Some people have asked me if I learned something on this trip and what. Others asked me what I love about Australia. So this post is a cheesy dedication to both questions. Enjoy!!

…What I learned over the past 4 months:

• It is not scary to travel all by yourself. No it really isn’t. I was a little bit scared to start off the trip in Southeast Asia where I have never been and which is obviously very different from home. But after my friend who joined me in Thailand left I was fine! Even though I met more people in Australia, I always found someone to hang out with in Asia whenever I wanted to. I spent some time by myself as mentioned before but it was nice. I got so used to the unconditional freedom, I can imagine it is going to be tricky when I get home and have to adapt.
• I’m usually an overthinker. Not here, if someone asks me to join for a trip, a dinner, a day in the city… I don’t think twice, I just go. This leads me to the next point: I am not judging people so quickly anymore. I might meet someone and not like them immediately or think we won’t get along because they are much younger than me or so. I made very good experiences hanging out with people I didn’t think were interesting at first sight. And in case we didn’t click I just walked away at some point.
  A fried of mine in Perth introduced me to the „Yes theory“, there is a YouTube channel about it, check it out if you are interested.
• I learned to not plan too much, I appreciate going with the flow much more. You miss out on a lot if you don’t leave some space for spontaneity.
• I learned to take. This might come across arrogant but let me explain. I am more of a giver back home. I love to help people, it makes me feel good. I am usually the one my friends call when they have a problem and I listen, always and for hours if necessary. I like to make people comfortable. When I studied I always worked for organisations helping international students integrate in Germany, with the German language or bureaucracy, I continued doing that to a small degree at trivago.
  So honestly, I had a hard time taking when some truly amazing people in Australia offered to drive me around, invited me for coffee or dinner, let me sleep in their place, showed me around in their cities and just gave me their precious time with their busy schedules.
• And now a very personal one: It is okay to be single at 29. Also, I’m not alone. I sometimes felt there is something wrong with me because everyone in my family is married by now, it gives me all these toxic ideas of thinking there is something wrong with me or I am not likable. But I met so many people (mostly women by the way) on this trip around my age and single, some of them were over 30 and divorced. So yes, they tried and „failed“ and I might not have tried. But the most important thing is that you are happy and does marriage mean you reached your final goal and you will be happy every after? I doubt it.
  Luckily, people I ran into were very sincere and open and gave me a lot of self-assurance.

Just some people I met in Australia:
(except for Emily and Kaitlin of course, I know them from Copenhagen)

…What I love about Australia

• For me, Australia is just like my beloved Denmark but with HEAPS of sunshine! The people are so laid-back and friendly. They don’t work crazy hours, they focus a lot on family life, a beautiful and big home and making sure they spend enough time by the beach. Also, they don’t care too much about what you do for work and they don’t judge based on that. In Germany I often notice that when you meet someone new the first question is „what do you do for a living“ (and then secretly judge if that’s cool/sexy/successful).
• Western culture. Of course, sometimes I see that as a disadvantage as it is not as exciting as in Asia for example. But for me it is still unbelievable how I can be 16.000 km away from home but I feel 100% comfortable and at home. And not only that, a completely different culture and standard of living in Asia is happening between Europe and Australia. I have been trying to find out what Australian culture is and I was told it’s the humble people, bbq in the park, Vegemite on toast, camping and beach life. But honestly, in my opinion there is no Australian cuisine, they just eat the best foods from everywhere and they have a very European mindset. Surprisingly, it is nothing like the USA even though both countries developed through colonialism from Europe.
  Side note: Sometimes, weirdly I feel sorry for Australians because they don’t have their own thing 🙂 When I think about carnival, Oktoberfest or similar festivities around the country, traditions about hiking on May 1 or fathers day, Christmas markets with mulled wine… I must admit, all these festivities are just occasions for us to drink so maybe it’s better if you don‘t have them…
• Which leads me to the next point: Drinking in public is not permitted. I am not sure if I’m a fan of that because I would love to have a drink in a park or by the beach. BUT this law results in very safe, quiet and peaceful public spaces. If you are really drunk, nobody would serve you alcohol in a bar here whilst in Germany you can drink until you are ready for hospital. I went to a football game in Melbourne and they put people of rivaling teams in the same area, unthinkable in Europe where people would fight each other. When the game is over, everyone leaves the stadium peacefully, no hooligans, no beating each other up.
• The country has its sh* together: Minimum wage is around 20$ and you can make a living with simple jobs. A friend of mine worked as a waitress and made more money than I made at trivago (cough, cough…haha). Yes, of course, eating out and food in supermarkets is more expensive than in Germany but rent and house prices are much lower as well as petrol. BUT I must admit: University is not free and healthcare is not as cheap as back home.
• Public transport is partly free! In Perth it is the buses in the inner city, in Melbourne the tram and in Sydney you ride for free on a Sunday. Also, the galleries of modern art in each of the big cities are free. You can see contemporary Australian art as well as Aboriginal art there and learn a lot about indigenous culture.
• People take care of the beautiful country they live in. There is absolutely no garbage to be found in nature. When I camped in the wilderness there sometimes weren’t any bins but people take their rubbish with them. Also the streets in the big cities are super super clean.
• There are public bathrooms, changing rooms and showers everywhere and they are clean!! Back home, it’s always a struggle to find a bathroom and if you are lucky enough to find a public one you are probably asked to pay 1€… Here, you go for a swim at the beach and you will most probably find facilities next to it, so no sandy and salty ride home on the subway or in the car!
• People are so so so incredibly nice! Everyone asks you how you are doing all the time. Of course, some of them don’t expect an honest reply but chances are high you end up in a conversation with them if you actually tell them how your day is going.
  When I took the bus to the station to then go to the airport by train in Brisbane the bus driver let me ride for free because in his opinion „they charge you enough for the train from central“. How awesome was that?
  This is one of the things I am a little bit scared of when I get back to Germany. Everyone just minds their business and if someone starts chatting on the bus you will automatically think “What does he/she want? Money? Is he/she mentally stable? Is he hitting on me?”
• Space, space, space. Even though there are around  5 Mio. people in Sydney and Melbourne and more than 2 in Brisbane and Perth you don’t realize it. The cities are more spread out than in Europe and it’s not as crowded on the trains and in the city centers. Plus it usually takes a short ride by bus, train, car or ferry and you are out in the nature or by the beach.
• And last but not least: SUNSHINE SUNSHINE SUNSHINE. I arrived in March which is basically autumn. It wasn’t as hot and humid as in Asia which was great and I spent a good amount of time by the beach and swimming. Now in May, it is a bit chilly I must say, like 22°C during the day and quite cold at night, at least in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth. In Melbourne it is a bit more like European autumn with colder temperatures and rain but the further north you go, the warmer and sunnier. The eternal summer results in me being outside almost all the time and I love it.

I will write about my latest adventures in the south and the east shortly. I am now back in Perth and ready to come home in a few weeks. YES, who would have thought? 🙂

Perth city:

Also, I drove. On the LEFT! Not as hard as I thought 😀

After having taken the world’s cheapest airport bus in Saigon (0,20€ for an hour drive) I waved Vietnam goodbye and spent two nights  in vibrant, modern, clean, impressive Singapore, oh what a contrast! I didn’t want to spend much money on accommodation so I booked the cheapest hostel I could find which was a pod/capsule hostel where everyone had a little space shuttle like capsule with blue light inside. 12 of them were in one room and it gave you privacy and a cozy feeling, I recommend it!
So I expected Singapore to be a bit like Dubai and if you read my article about it you know that I’m not a fan. But Singapore really caught me off guard! Yes, it is modern and man-made but it has also charme and atmosphere and culture. Needless to say it was hot there but that made it a sunny oasis in this sometimes crazy continent of Asia, even though Singapore doesn’t feel like Asia, it has a very western feel and also here most inhabitants are immigrants. Everywhere you went it was super clean and tidy but so green, parks everywhere and people taking walks. I started my day with a touristy hop on hop off bus tour but since I only had one full day it was the most efficient way to see as much as possible. I jumped off at the botanical gardens and I was so impressed by this richness of plants and beautiful gardens.  The fascinating thing for me is that Singapore is surrounded by water and has a huge harbor, so pretty! It is known for the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel which has a large infinity pool on its roof – out of my budget (again, needless to say). I did go up on the viewing platform they have on top and it was definitely worth it. I came right before sunset and stayed until it was dark. Seeing the gardens by the bay, skyscrapers, the harbor by night was an experience. Check out my pictures.

A

fter this very pleasant stopover I flew to Bali. So what is this mystical island everybody dreams of all about? At first sight it looks like any other island but Bali really IS special!

The climate is tropical so palm trees and rice fields everywhere, the humidity is around 90% which makes it hard to breathe and harder to move. It’s so rich in culture with beautiful Hindu temples. I had booked a week in Pelan Pelan (which means “slow down” or “take it easy” in Indonesian) which is a surf and yoga retreat in midst of rice fields close to the beach town of Canggu. Man, that was one of the best ideas I had in a long time, the place is paradise! It consists of little bungalows, everything else is (half) outdoors. When I entered I was greeted by the guests with such a warm welcome, they knew my name already and it felt like coming home, my heart was happy and only then I realized that I had needed an atmosphere like this after going solo for the past weeks.
I have no words for this retreat- they serve amazing Indonesian breakfast and lunch and I had two cooking classes which made me appreciate the food even more as it took sooo much time to prepare. We had yoga classes every day in the garden outdoors with great teachers. The yoga was a bit more spiritual than at home with joss sticks, om chanting, meditation… I loved it for that and because the surrounding is just breathtaking – you do a downward facing dog and you see these tropical plants around you and hear the birds sing and the geckos gecko? quacking?
I also had some massages included in my package which made the relaxation perfect. My roomie is a very nice girl and also the other guests were so nice and interesting. In the beginning we were just six – an Icelandic graphic designer, an Australian singer and songwriter, a Belgian notary, a Dutch university graduate and a US-American girl who left her family business, sold her house, bought a camper and traveled the US and Canada before she started exploring the rest of the world. Then there is a burnt-out girl who runs a concept store in the Netherlands, an Italian girl who came to London as a waitress not speaking English and worked her way up and wants to become a yoga teacher now and celebrated her 40th birthday with us yesterday watching the sunset by the beach and having a fancy drink in a fancy beach club. And a 32-year-old girl who just fought uterine cancer. And then there is this girl who worked at this hotel search company with the annoying TV ads 😉
You can imagine the stories and the great exchange we had with everyone.
The best part about my trip is getting all the reassurance that I’m doing it right, we even gave each other tips about our resumés for future job applications, and this unconditional acceptance of who you are. No fights for attention, no shows, no fake, also no need to say something if you don’t want to, no pressure. Just refreshing.

Pelan Pelan is situated in the rice fields so a driver would bring us to Canggu if we wanted to go out for dinner or for shopping which we only did twice. The other nights we just ordered in so it was a very calm time without much consume, rush or tourists around me.

I collected a few fun, random or nice moments and conversations I experienced that I wanna share with you. I’m sure there are more to come!!! 🙂

Luxury trip

I am in a pub in Chiang Mai, Thailand. A group of Dutch people in their mid- to late fifties sit down next to me. We start chatting and I tell the woman I am backpacking. She says: “Nice, we are not backpacking, we are LUXURY BITCHES.” Then she throws some German words at me. Yo, bitches…

Take a chance on me

I have breakfast in a hostel in Hanoi and sit down at a table with an American girl and a guy from Denmark. The girl leaves and I keep chatting with the guy. He tells me he likes my positive energy. I politely say thanks. He asks me if I want to go for a walk and I say yes, but I have to leave to go to the airport in an hour. So we walk in the busy streets of Hanoi, scooters and people everywhere. He touches my back. Then he randomly says: “This might be very direct, but I would really like to kiss you.” And since this is not a Hollywood movie I say “Uhmmm, I’m not there, yet”. He says that’s okay and we keep on chatting until we get back to the hostel where we say goodbye and will never see each other again. This happens at 10 am, I have just had pancakes and I think I hadn’t even brushed my hair before going downstairs for breakfast.

Random act of kindness

I arrive in Hanoi looking for my airbnb but can’t find it so I basically walk into someone’s kitchen. The woman doesn’t speak a word of English but takes me by the hand and walks with me until we find an English speaker who calls my host for me.

The eye of the beholder…

1. I meet a Canadian lady at the beach. We talk for a bit and then she asks me where I’m from. I say Germany. She says: “Noooo. Are you sure? I thought you were from the US”… A girl in Hanoi talks to me for a while and says: “You must be from Norway, you look soooo Norwegian.” Nope. A guy in my hostel in Hoi An says: “Are you from Scotland? No, you have an American accent. Hmmm.. But your ancestors must be from Scotland! Also, you look exactly like my Scottish friend. Can I take a picture with you?” Sure…

2. Hoi An is famous for tailor made clothes so some people from my hostel and I go to a shop where I order a dress. The lady looks at me and says: “Wow, you are tall. And small!” I’m like: “I’m not small!” She takes measurements and says: “Ohh small waist..” she continues and yells: “Ohhhhhhhhhh BIG butt! Curvy!!!!”
I look at her super embarrassed and she goes: “Better than nothing!” I take is as a compliment.

3. I am walking through Hoi An old town. A Vietnamese man starts shouting super loudly, then looks at me, points at me until his entire family stares at me and scans me. I just look at them with a huge question mark in my face, the man talks to me in Vietnamese and I just shake my head trying to tell him that I don’t understand. He gives me the thumbs up and I am assuming they were excited about my height or hair color…

I can’t believe I have been away for three weeks already! So it’s more than time to tell you how things are going.
The trip started with a wonderful flight with Emirates, at least one third of the seats very empty, can’t complain! We had a two nights layover in Dubai and honestly I didn’t expect much, my friend that I traveled with for the first two weeks and I just didn’t want to go all the way to Thailand in one go so we decided to stay in Dubai for a short visit.
I am having a hard time putting into words how I feel about this city without sounding too negative because Dubai surely has its perks – it is cleaner than any place I have ever been to, neat, tidy, organised, convenient, RICH! But honestly, there is not much to do. Most attractions are indoors and are sold as happenings, I felt a bit like being in the Arabic version of Las Vegas – a conservative one. Most buildings are connected with glass air-conditioned over-crossings. People rush from one place to the other wearing expensive clothes with huge brand names on them which made me feel like in high school again “the bigger the brand name on your shirt the cooler you are”. The subway has its own section just for women, men shall be fined if they enter, ladies in burkas here and there, no people and specifically no women on the streets. For me it felt a bit like wandering through a ghost town without character which is weird because 90% of inhabitants are NOT from the United Arab Emirates. A melting pot that never melted, the bits and pieces still floating around disconnected from each other.
We spent the evening strolling through Dubai mall, the biggest shopping center in the world where you can find all international brands you can think of. Everything is imported here which again made me realize that there is very little authenticity. We ended the day watching the dancing fountains in front of Burj Khalifa – the highest building in the world. Enough superlatives for one day 🙂

 

The next day, we flew to Bangkok, oh what a contrast! This city is bursting with energy and culture. We made the mistake of booking a hotel on Khao San Road which is the most touristy street in the entire city. Street vendors everywhere, street food, bars, clubs and music, music, music playing from every corner.
We spent three days exploring temples, China town, eating amazing Thai food, chilling by our rooftop pool, visiting some malls, parks, the red light district and drinking many, many mango and coconut shakes!
Even though Bangkok is crowded, hot, dirty, polluted and poor in many areas it was exciting to experience. Life happens on the streets, people eat, cook and talk to each other outside and we felt like being a part of it.

 

We continued our trip to the south of Thailand starting in Koh Lanta which was the beginning of a ferry marathon from the mainland. Lanta is almost untouched, rarely have I seen beaches this empty. The sand is soft, the water is warm, hippie bars are by the waterfront and simple yet amazing restaurants are situated everywhere.
We spent a chill time there until we made the mistake of booking a snorkeling tour with a speedboat. It started harmless but once we got away from the island to the more “open” sea the water started coming into the boat  leaving us soaking wet. The waves were quite high and the boat was shaking but I thought this was normal. We arrived at our first snorkeling point and the fish and corals were great. We had lunch on a beautiful, tiny, remote island before the fiasco took its course. The plan was to go to another island to snorkel but as soon as we left the speedboat started shaking, jumping up and down as the waves were super, duper high. Our guide said that it normally is not like that and that this day was especially windy. Things started to scare me when we had to hold on to handles and my back started hurting from the boat going up and falling back down on the water. It got worse and worse and our guide said we couldn’t go to the other island but would have to get back to Koh Lanta for safety reasons, but Lanta was still 1,5 hours away. I’m telling you, these 1,5 hours made it to my list of most uncomfortable hours in my life. My friend and I held hands, the boat kept shaking, water coming in from everywhere. We were around 30 people on this boat looking at each other, worried. I started to feel sick and a poor little girl next to me threw up in a plastic bag. The scariest part though was when our guide put on her life vest telling us to do the same. So there we were, trying to put on these vests while trying not to fall from our seats. The ride went on and on, I felt dizzy, worse than a roller coaster ride in Phantasialand. At some point I couldn’t handle it anymore and the tears just ran down my face, I thought about the refugees in the Mediterranean who have it much, much worse and I asked myself how any government can reject these poor people from docking at their harbors. It was definitely one of those days when you consciously thank the universe for your convenient, comfortable and healthy life you are living.
We made it safely to the shore at some point leaving the boat a bit traumatized.

 

The next day we continued to Koh Phi Phi with a fresh mind. The island is known for its parties but we didn’t expect it to be this crazy. It was worse than Düsseldorf Altstadt and Ballermann Mallorca on a Saturday night the biggest problem being that there were way too many people on a tiny island. I mean I get it, the scenerey was beautiful but the beaches were overcrowded. We hiked over one hour to a hidden beach thinking we were smart. But after a while boats full of Chinese tourists arrived letting them invade the beach for an hour or two. The island itself smelled like garbage and yes, there was garbage everywhere. This kind of mass tourism destroyed the island and I felt bad for coming there. If I ever work in tourism again I definitely would love to find something that supports sustainable tourism.
Another ferry ride followed to Railay beach on the mainland. We had to jump from the ferry on a longtail boat that brought us to the shore, there was no pier though, walking through the water carrying ours backpacks included! A french guy next to me had an actual suitcase and of course dropped it in the water. Couldn’t help but laugh 😉
We spent a really nice time in Railay kayaking and swimming. Also here, the scenerey was just beautiful.

 

We flew back to Bangkok where my friend left to fly back to Düsseldorf. This is exactly where the scary part started for me – my solo trip! Luckily, my colleague from the trivago choir was in Bangkok visiting her family so we met up for lunch. I then flew to the north of Thailand, Chiang Mai. I can only recommend you go there if you are ever in Thailand. It’s a city in the mountains, laid back with lots of backpackers and great food options everywhere you go.
I spent my first solo day strolling through the streets, having coffee and visiting a temple where a few Buddhist students came up to me to chat. We spent a full hour talking about our cultural backgrounds, Buddhism, Germany and Thailand and it was such a great start of the solo trip!
I met a lovely girl from England in a café later that day and we booked a tour to visit an elephant sanctuary the next day – the highlight of my trip to Chiang Mai!
These elephants were rescued and treated with great care and they were so friendly! I was a bit scared in the beginning because we got so close to such huge animals but they were so kind! We fed them, walked through the jungle and later gave them a mud bath and a bath in clean water in the river at the end.
The next few days were really chill, my new friend and I spent time together by a pool and exploring the city before she left to go home and I flew to Hanoi this morning.

 

But before I tell you about Vietnam I have to say: I now understand why everyone loves Thailand. Traveling there is so easy, people are so helpful, always smiling, always polite, I got some of the most painful but helpful massages ever. Most of them speak basic English! I’m not lying when I say I have rarely felt this welcome to a country (except for the United States maybe where people have also been quite excited about my visits 🙂 ). If I were them I would probably be super sick of all the tourists everywhere.

I spent half a day in Hanoi and I’m pretty sure Vietnam is quite different and a bit more challenging in terms of communication with locals and the traffic. Scooter overload!

… To be continued.