CARNAVAL x 3 etc

yes, carnaval really does deserve being written in capital letters, it should really be on everybody´s must do in life-list!although everybody we´d met spent carnaval in rio, we had made arrangements to spend it in salvador a while ago (had reserved rio first, but were talked out of that). so, after two days of exploring the city, we went up to praia do forte for a couple of days of relaxation before the big party would start. of course we got burnt and within days, my whole back started to peel (people in the pantanal thought i was 19, but after the peeling, i apparently looked like 24 already).praia do forte was a really cute beach town filled with brazilian tourists and we didn´t do much there except sleep, eat, drink and go to tamar, which is a turtle reserve. so, when we came back so salvador, the city had already changed quite a bit, fountains etc were protected by wood panels and everybody was getting ready for carnaval. we still had to pick up our bloco ticket (which is actually a t-shirt, see pic) for cerveija e cia and bought another ticket for a camarote for sunday (gave us a day in between to recover). in a bloco, you´re basically part of a group of people following a trailer with a famous singer on it, in our case it was ivete salgado, who´s very famous in brazil.so, although we didn´t know any of her songs in the beginning, we sang and danced with the crowd and soon got into her rythm. keeping men away is not always easy, but doable. btw, the best place to keep money, we found, is inside the bra where the push up cushions usually go. apart from money, a disposable camera and a passport copy, we didn´t take anything with us. it was a great evening, but very tyring and on the ferry ride over, i was of course one of the first to fall asleep - we didn´t stay in the city but on an island called itaparica about an hour away from salvador (a wonderful pousada called zimbo tropical with great vegetation, monkeys and a parrot - see pic). the shower afterwards felt like heaven, i was itchy all over and had the impression of having everybody´s sweat on my body.
so, the next carnaval experience was a camarote, a closed off area with all drinks and food included where you´re watching the blocos going by and dancing to the music they´re playing. strangely enough, we knew almost all the songs - they are all singing the same thing (& people are still getting exited after the 5th time hearing the same song), so we almost felt like locals when we could sing along. also, we were quite surprised to meet other foreigners there.
i really can´t say whether i prefered the bloco or camarote and think it was a great thing to do both. we stayed in the camarote much longer though, as the bloco just ended and people were starting small fights and we decided to leave. in general, however, we felt really safe, but there´s also loads of police around.
in comparison to europe, where carnaval ends ash wednesday, carnaval in brazil never seems to end...
after a 30 hour bus trip (with a breakdown in the middle of the night and nowhere), we finally arrived in rio, where we were expecting to finally get robbed (but didn´t).although our hostel (rio hostel) didn´t make the most inviting impression upon arrival, it turned out to be a great place with very helpful staff, a wonderful terrace and great breakfast. they were also the ones who organized tickets for the parade of the champions for us, the parade where the samba schools who had the highest scores are performing again. so at least we still saw a bit of rio carnaval as well. the effort the samba schools are putting in their performance is just incredible, i have never seen anything like that. sorry, but our carnaval parades are just sooo ridiculous. thousands of people are taking part in every school and every school´s run is 1 h 18 mins long! my favorite one was focusing on environmental topcis and had all kinds of animals, flowers etc in it.

rio in general is a great city, the setting is just unbeatable (maybe sydney or san diego are close to that). unfortunately, there is a lot of crime and we were told many times not to go here or there and to take our cameras away (we were walking around with plastic bags all the time), so i left mine in the locker most of the time. there were a couple more street blocos, we went to a football game in the maracaná stadium, went to a great nightclub called rio scenarium, of course wento to cristo, copacabana and ipanema. the ocean in rio is a)freezing (there was lots of rain before) and b)it´s got very stron currents and high waves - watch you bikini tops+bottoms.
speaking of bikinis i wonder who ever came up with the rumor that all brazilian women are beautiful, in great shape and shaved...we saw too many who prove just the opposite.
i´ll definitely have to come back to rio, as i was sick the last day we were there and didn´t get to go to the pao de azucar/hangglide down from it.
our final stop was sao paulo where we met up with mathias who we´d met in bsas, had a nice dinner with him and then did a bit of sightseeing the next day and ended our time in brazil with some asian food in the japanese part of sao paulo. the flight back home was as bad as the flight to south america (wonder what happened to lufthansa´s quality approach), but at least i only put my shoes on and my havaianas in my backpack once we left the airport in vienna.

i am now back at home writing this an am already looking forward to the next trip, still have to decide where in the world i´m going to go next, gotta work a bit first...

Brazil

one of the highlights of our trip so far must have been the iguazu falls, i´ve never imagined them to be this massive and big. we saw them from the brazilian and argentinian side and i really recommend seeing both! looking at a couple of the rivers which form the falls, you´d never imagine such power and such big masses of water.absolutely amazing!!!also the hostel we stayed at in puerto iguazu was very nice and i almost felt at home, as some of my plants from home were growing in the garden- ok, they were just slightly smaller, but still, the same plants.
however, getting from iguazu to campo grande, which was our first port of call in brazil, was a quite difficult endevour. having bought all our bus tickets ourselved, we thought that it would safe us lots of hassle(going to the bus station on the bras. side etc) if we bought our tickets from an agent in puerto iguazu, knowing that we would be paying a bit more. all looked fine, i got an envelope with the tickets the day we were supposed to get them, but only once we had already left the agency and were on our way to the falls i noticed that there was just one ticket with teresa´s name on it.so, upon arrival back in town, we went back to try and find out what was going on - strangely enough, our agent had already left for the day and the other one had no idea what was going on, so we called the other agent and she told us that there is no more ticket available form another person and whether we wouldn´t like to go tomorrow morning, which we didn´t, as we already had our pantanal tour reserved and didn´t want to spend a day on the bus (safes us from paying for an extra night and we get to a new place in the morning). so, i got quite angry with her and somehow she managed to find another ticket - on a different bus one hour earlier than teresas.wonderful, first bus trip in brazil, overnight and both of us alone and we both had to change buses once. my first bus had no a/c and was extremly hot, whereas in the second i felt as if i had gone to antarctica, it was fucking freezing, must have been 10 degrees or so.apart from that, i had this guy sitting next to me who constantly `accidentally´ touched me and took up lots of space.teresa´s bus broke down etc - all in all, not much sleep that night, but we both arrived in campo grande around the same time and could soon start our pantanal tour, which i was extremly looking forward to, animals and nature after lots of cities. although it wasn´t the best time of the year to go, i was still hoping to see lots of wildlife etc. what i wasn´t expecting though was that this lodge would also be a huge party place with lots of backpackers. in general, i thought it would be much more remote than it was, whereas teresa was expecting it to be less rustic.
anyways, so another 4 or so hours on a minibus, with lots of rain on the way. the minibus ride was followed by a ride in a rustic version of a pic up or something, also in the rain, which was paradise for my little mosquitoe friends. `off`we go again, which has turned out to be our favorite smell on the trip. after the 3 days in the pantanal, i was covered in bites, my right foot alone had 25, my hand 13 and many more on the rest of me - didn´t count them all to be honest. day one basically ended with lots of drinking, playing drinking games (which i, as always, couldn´t really follow, but thankfully teresa and mark helped me cheat a bit)etc. on day 2, i didn´t go on the full day jungle safari with the others, as i was expecting a phone call regaring a job interview, yes, in the middle of nowhere, but they had to do it monday or tuesday, so that was really the only option. we´ll see how it went, but hey, who does interviews in the pantanal, i should have gotten plus points right there, however, i think the guy who called me was quite jealous-after all, he was sitting somewhere in germany while i´m in brazil. it was about an internship in new york, btw, all expenses paid - i should find out soon whether i got to the next round.
but anyways, so in the morning (i was quite happy i didn´t have to go hiking), i went on a boat trip along the river, where we saw lots of caimans, toucans, other birds (can´t remember their names), capybaras (water pigs), but no anacondas or jaguars. still, very nice.
after lunch and my interview, we went on a horseback ride - it´s been over a year since the last one in mongolia, which was where teresa fell of the horsy.
day three was then the hiking day for me, with lots of rain and therefore, not that many animals, apart from mossies. the last morning was then spent with fishing piranhas (not me of course)and tubing down the river with the caimans etc in it, which was alot of fun.
back to city life in campo grande, the people we´d met on our trip decided to go out for dinner and then to a karaoke bar, which must have been the best night on our whole trip. apart from a summer loving duet, i sang my `favorite` song edelweiss again and i´m sure most brazilians have never heard it before - shame on them. speaking of the guests in the bar (apart from our group) i have no idea how many of them were men and how many women - campo grande seems to be transvestite/transsexual heaven.
teresa and i left campo grande the next day at 3pm, in order to get to sao paulo by 6am and then got a flight to salvador de bahia. after 4 days surrounded by mostly foreigners, it felt somehow strange i thought. buses in south america seem to be timed a lot better than planes. our plane was late, and we still don´t know why. also, who could expect an international airport to have a selection of books which goes beyond 10 titels (our of which i had read 5 and wasn´t interested in the others)?
anyways, so we spent 2 days in salvador, great place, but as far as sightseeing goes, all i say is 365 churches! so we decided to take a little rest before the carneval madness starts (we bought one day ticket so far which cost us around 140 euros) and are now in praia do forte, a touristy, but very cute beach town with a great hostel and will probably stay here for another 2 or 3 nights and then go back to salvador/to ilha itaparica. after having survived carnval, we will then head down to rio and end our trip in sao paulo. however, i am currently very tempted to change that to a bit later....

updated world map

s we have now made it to Brazil,I decided to update my world map, as it´s been a while and things have changed. i didn´t mark the countries i´d like to visit, but it´s basically the ones which are not colored, i.e. the rest of the world with few exeptions

mendoza

soda, sind nach einer nachtbusfahrt mit service wie im flugzeug (es gibt einen attendant, der bringt "super" essen das total umweltfreundlich verpackt ist, zeigt dvds, spielt mit dem ganzen bus bingo),vor 2 tagen in mendoza angekommen. fast haette ich vergessen, unsere geburtstage zu erwaehnen. erst mal danke fuer all die sms, anrufe und emails, freut einen fern von der heimat noch mehr, auch wenn ich ja nicht so der geburtstagsfan bin. teresas geburtstag haben wir jedenfalls in colonia, uruguay, verbracht, sehr nette kolonialstadt mit ein paar museen, die man in ein paar minuten gesehen hat. abends, zurueck in buenos aires, sind wir dann zuerst in ein bio-lokal essen gegangen (wer das wohl ausgesucht hat)und haben echt gut gegessen. zur abwechslung war der salat naemlich gut angemacht (meistens ist er gar nicht angemacht),mit mandeln, karamelisierten birnen und frittiertem muzzarella (heisst hier echt muzzarella). danach sind wir ins museum gegangen, ist aber kein museum in dem sinne, sondern ein nachtclub. sehr coole lokation, das gebaeude wurde von gustave eiffel entworfen. konnten den tuersteher davon ueberzeugen, dass nur eine von uns eintritt zahlen muss, weil wir ja beide geburtstag haben. drinnen wars ziemlich voll, lokals und touristen, und die musik war auch recht gut. ich allerdings hatte ein kleines problem: innerhalb von minuten haben mir zig typen auf mein hinterteil gegriffen, was dann darin resultierte, dass ich mich mit dem ruecken zur bar gestellt habe. dann wird man halt angesprochen. und das recht offensiv.hier einige beispiele: 2 typen reden mich an: hallo, wie heisst du? hast du lust auf einen 3er? worauf ich dann gesagt habe, dass ich mit teresa hier bin ;)(sie findet uebrigens, dass sie aufgrund ihrer locken aussieht wie patrick swayze) naja, dann halt zu viert? worauf ich nur meinte: nein, das tun wir nicht mehr, jetzt sinds nur noch wir 2. der naechste meinte dann, ob ich morgen mit ihm mittagessen gehen will, worauf ich meinte, dass ich da keine zeit habe. naja, dann muessen wir halt jetzt gleich miteinander schlafen. dem hab ich dann gesagt, dass ich verheiratet bin (diesmal nicht mit teresa).also recht muehsam, aber gut fuers selbstbewusstsein.

nun aber zu mendoza: ist eine sehr nette stadt, mit vielen plazas und netten lokalen, in der es allerdings recht wenig zum anschauen gibt, die attraktionen mendozas liegen in der umgebung. der grund, warum wir hier sind ist, wie koennte es auch anders sein, der wein. also, auf in die weinberge. weinberge gibts hier aber keine, das ist alles ganz flach und wenn man es mit anderen weinanbaugebieten vergleicht ist die umgebung ehrlich gesagt nicht so schoen. wir haben jedenfalls mit unserem neuen anhaengsl rob aus holland (in buenos aires war es mathias aus sao paulo, der uns immer "beschuetzt" hat oder zumindest meinte, es tun zu muessen, und einen chilenischen david haben wir auch getroffen, der name rob faellt also aus der reihe, wei rob haben wir sonst keinen im freundeskreis)beschlossen, mit dem bus nach maipu, dem laut stadteigenen slogan "mejor lugar para vivir" (wegen asphalt, gas, wasser, sport etc steht noch dabei), zu fahren und uns dort so genannte mountain bikes auszuleihen.hat auch gut funktioniert - ich haette zwar gerne einen helm gehabt, aber bitte - uns los gings. von meinen laut schaltung 21 gaengen hat genauer einer funktioniert, und der war auf der mittleren scheibe, das treten war also eher muehsam.nach so ca einem kilometer hatte dann rob eine patschen und musste sein rad umtauschen, drei mal um genau zu sein. aber das vierte war dann ok und weiter gings, auf zur angeblich offenen bodega. dem war allerdings nicht so und mussten weiter zur naechsten, die uns dann teuren wein zum verkosten gegeben haben. nach einem koster haben wir daher beschlossen, zur naechsten weiterzuradeln. leider sind wir falsch abgebogen und irgendwie kam die nicht daher. mein reifen scheint dann auch ein verlangen nach wein bekommen zu haben und hat den geist aufgegeben.mitten im nirgendwo.aber wir hatten glueck im unglueck und ein bio-weingut war in der naehe und sogar offen. ein total suesses maedl hat uns dann dort eine tour gegeben und auch wenn der wein nicht der totale hammer war, hat uns diese bodega fuer einiges entschaedigt. zum glueck ist unser radlverleiher dann vorbeigekommen, hat uns zur naechsten bodgea gebracht und die schrottradln mitgenommen. diese war dem, was wir uns erwartet haben, schon sehr nahe und wir haben auch eine super kalte platte gegessen. fast wie beim heurigen.

gestern haben wir einen ausflug in die berge gemacht, allerdings mit dem bus, aber mei. die landschaft war echt wunderschoen und wir haben sogar den aconcagua von der weite gesehen.abends gabs dann im hostel ein blutiges bbq, fuer das ich mir mein essen im carrefour besorgt habe. keine gute idee, musste mich nur aergern. man muss hier jede sorte obst oder gemuese in ein extra plastiksackerl geben, damit die frau, die das abwiegt, dann versiegeln kann. hatte also 7 sackerl oder so und hab auch gesagt, dass ich das dumm finde (kann ja meinen mund nicht halten) und die obstfrau hat mir zugestimmt und nur gemeint, dass die das hier nicht verstehen. die qualitaet des gemueses und obstes laesst uebrigens sehr zu wuenschen uebrig, alles viel zu reif und letschert. einzig die avokados, die ich weich wollte, waren steinhart.
bbq war aber nett, mit viel wein und dann bier. ein maedl aus unserem zimmer wurde hier in mendoza ueberfallen, dabei hatten wir immer den eindruck, dass es hier sehr sicher ist. werde heute jedenfalls mal die fotos auf cd brennen, falls mir jemand meine kamera fladert.die ist uebrigens super, musste den akku noch nie aufladen!

zum hostel: dieses hier hat eine sehr nette common area, sogar einen pool (schwimmen allerdings nicht empfehlenswert), aber die baeder sind der wahnsinn. die fliesen waren glaub ich mal schwarz, sind aber mittlerweile aufgrund mangelndes putzens weiss vom kalk. duschvorhaenge scheinen hier ein vermoegen zu kosten, die waren in beiden hostels extrem grausig. klopapier gibts auch fast nie, also schaut man immer besser schon vorher.
heute abend fahren wir weiter nach cordoba und dann gehts weiter nach iguazu und nach brasilien, freu mich aufs meer und die tropen!

fast haette ichs vergessen: mein vertrag bei grand circle wurde wie der von einigen anderen kollegen,nicht verlaengert, dh ich muss mir wieder einen neuen job suchen, habe aber schon 2 moegliche in aussicht.aergere mich jedenfalls am meisten darueber, dass ich schon zum zweiten mal meine reisen um einem job herum geplant habe, und dann wurde draus nix. naja, es gibt schlimmeres...
hasta luego!

BsAs

poste mal das email, damits nicht so ausschaut, als waer ich zu faul, was zu schreiben (werde auch mal fotos posten, das kann aber dauern):
ums gleich vorweg zu nehmen: bei uns hats grad so um die 30 grad ;)

soweit ist alles bestens und ich will euch auch nicht lange mit stories nerven...BsAs ist eine super stadt, mit wunderschoenen bauten (von denen leider nicht alle im besten zustand sind) und einer tollen atmosphaere. "richtige" sights, die man gesehen haben muss wie eifel turm oder statue of liberty gibts hier zum glueck nicht, also strawanzen wir eigentlich den grossteil des tages herum. gestern waren wir zb zuerst in san telmo, wo am we immer ein antiquitaetenflohmarkt ist, danach in la boca, das ist das viertel mit den bunten haeusern, das man von fotos kennt. spaeter sind wir nach palermo viejo, meinem bisherigen lieblingsviertel hier, mit coolen shops und netten lokalen. essen war bisher uebrigens eher maessig (nein, nicht nur meines). haben es ausserdem geschafft, gestern in einem lokal zu landen, denen das rindfleisch ausgegangen ist.

mit quilmes, dem lokalen bier, das wir bevorzugt aus 1 literflaschen trinken, haben wir uns schon gut angefreundet. leider scheint mein bierkonsum in letzter zeit jedoch nicht gross genug gewesen zu sein(dabei hatte ich den eindruck, dass ich mich sehr bemueht habe), da mich die muecken immer noch zum anbeissen finden. und bedbugs, meine best friends, scheinen mich auch auf der ganzen welt zu lieben. seid froh, dass ihr mich nicht anschauen muesst (da waere es fast besser, ich waere zu hause und koennte meine bisse mit viel kleidung verdecken). bedbugs sprechen also nicht gerade fuer die sauberkeit und qualitaet unseres hostels.

argentinische maenner lieben glnakflax (wie auch immer man das schreibt) oder auch fo-ku-hi-la haarschnitt, dementsprechend wenige gutaussehnde haben wir bisher gesehen. die anderen travelers im hostel sind hauptsaechlich brasilianer, von denen uns einer die letzten tage dauernd begleitet und uns sein leid wegen trennung etc geklagt hat.

morgen werden wir einen daytrip nach uruguay machen und dann noch ins tigre delta fahren, bevor es nach mendoza und damit zum argentinischen wein weiter geht.

was den flug her angeht, waren wir von der guten alten lufthansa ziemlich enttaeuscht, weil der flieger echt alt war. keine in seat screens und grottenschlechtes "entertainment". und wie vermutet wurde ratatuille. zum glueck war ich von den vortagen hundemuede und hab die meiste zeit geschlafen. teresas comment zum einreiseformular bei marital status: "mei, da bin ich einmal im leben nicht single und muss immer noch single ankreuzen".

South America

Happy New Year to all of you! my friend Teresa and I arrived in Buenos Aires last night. Fortunately, I had gotten very little sleep in the last days so I spent most of the time on the flight sleeping.
so far, the first impression of BsAs is good, very green city and, in comparison o Beijing, the air seems quite clean ;)
I´ll keep you posted!

NY

 
 
 
 

last month, Aivee, Elena and I met in NY for some sort of reunion. although it was pouring for the first two days, we had a wonderful time together!
Apart from the girls, I also met Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the founders of Lonely Planet!

NY, over and over again

I couldn´t really let 2006 pass without visiting NY, so, after just two weeks in Austria, I flew there, cat sat for a week (cute apartment in Chelsea), met my friend and her mum and Maná also! As always, I had a wonderful time & can´t wait to go back...

back in Austria

wow, what a long time it´s been since my last post, apparently
I was too busy trying to find a job and an apartment. after a while, I managed to find both. apartment is close to Schönbrunn and has a terrace I´m looking forward to garden on in the spring. the job isn´t journalism-related at all, but kind of communication-related. I´ll be working as a program director, which is like a tour guide, similiar to the job I did for three summers. Will be traveling from Vienna to Amsterdam by river ship. this job should leave me with lots of time to travel around (and money to pay for it as well).
it´s somehow good to be back, see friends and family, breathe clean air and eat organic food, watch tv I can actually understand. but yet, I do miss China alot! who knows, I might go back again in the future, in the meantime, I am back at uni trying to study Chinese (again). I am just too lazy for that language, especially the writing just isn´t for me.
it´s still way too warm here and the sun is shining almost every day - not that I usually mind that, but for punsch and mulled wine-drinking is should be a bit cooler IMHO.