Travel

Praxistest: Leben “im Einklang mit der Natur”

27/04/2014

Kerala ist ein Ort, der dem städtisch-virtuellen Traum vom Leben im “Einklang mit der Natur” recht nahe kommt. Schon morgens weckt einen das Vogelgezwitscher und die meckerne Ziege. Schweißgebadet steht man auf, denn der Ventilator ist wegen eines Stromausfalles ausgefallen. Dann [...]

The Cochin Melting Pot

08/02/2014

With less than 50% Hindus, and as much as 30% Muslims and 20% Christians in addition to minority religions such as Jainism and Buddhism, Kerala is India’s most religiously mixed state, and the best place to notice this may be Cochin, where the different religions display their distinct tokens on [...]

Water palaces in Alleppey

06/02/2014

Alleppey, or Alappuzha, town is not noteworthy, and hardly the “Venice of India” that it is sometimes called by people who have never seen Venice. The reason it is so popular is its strategic location in the middle of Kerala’s backwater area, which makes it the main entry point for boat [...]

Kannur Beach: The nothingness of authenticity

31/01/2014

Kerala welcomed us quite differently than Goa – with a demonstration. Just like Goa had revealed one of its typical characteristics right at the start, the demonstration was typical for Kerala’s profile as India’s most political state. Having been under communistic ruling for more than 30 [...]

The wonderful Goan bubble

27/01/2014

We had just landed and were waiting for our bags, when a simple conversation with a young airport employee already revealed one difference between Goa and the rest of India. “So, you are coming for the festival?” The casual tone of his question was already a bit untypical, I thought. [...]

Warming up in Bombay

23/01/2014

Freshly retired and suddenly benefiting from the otherwise rare combination of time and money, my mom had given me the task to organize a family holiday in India, a country that I had visited often enough to act as a tour guide. My favourite state Kerala was set, and I added Bombay for a city [...]

China Babble

09/09/2013

On a quick trip to China, checking out the reality of the world’s manufacturing hub Guangdong. Not having done my homework, I had expected the region’s two main cities Shenzhen and Guangzhou to be only partially developed, subconsciously linking the stereotype of cheap Chinese products to an [...]

Entwicklungstourismus

18/01/2013

Wenn westliche Touristen ein “Entwicklungsland” bereisen, dann ist oft der Name Programm: Wie sich Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft weiterentwickeln, welche Hoffnungen auf einen Anschluss an die westliche Welt bestehen, ist uninteressant bis ablehnenswert. Was dagegen mit verkapptem [...]

12 Gänge mit dem Mofa

17/01/2013

Heute berichte ich euch live – und wiedermal essend – aus dem ABC Café auf der berühmten Straße Pham Ngu Lao von meinem gestrigen kulinarischen Erlebnis, das ich jedem Saigon-Besucher wärmstens empfehlen kann. Die zwei Damen von Tiger Tours holten meinen mitreisenden Schweden mit [...]

Mr. Bean und der Krieg

16/01/2013

Ich widme den Titel dieses Berichts dem Reiseführer meines gestrigen Ausflugs zu den Viet Cong-Tunneln außerhalb Saigons – denn nicht die Besichtigung, sondern er war die eigentliche Attraktion des Tages. Seine Erklärungen zum Krieg und Ausführungen zur eigenen Biographie begannen um 8:30 [...]