Get to know the world - and yourself along the way!
The boat trip from Belém to Manaus across the Amazon is one of the most social affairs I have experienced in my travels. On deck, passengers crisscrossed in hammocks, in many places three on top of each other, so I was among people 24/7. The …
They’re everywhere, blighting cityscapes, annoying passersby and amusing drunken teenagers at best: electric scooters. When I came across a collection of them in Coimbra, I discovered something charming about them for the first time. I didn’t know until then that they had even the rudimentary …
After being panicked by some palm-sized spiders during a hike through the adventurous, waterlogged caves of Khao Soc National Park, I encountered this enchanting creature. It was sitting in the middle of a jungle plant and was introduced to me by a Thai as bull …
My hike through the Valle del Cocora in the middle of Colombia’s coffee highlands was particularly impressive. The reason is the tallest palm tree in the world growing there: the Quindio wax palm, Colombia’s national tree. Like so many natural beauties, this one is threatened …
The hiking trail from Katharinaberg to the Giggelberg inn takes you along ancient farms built on remarkable steep slopes on the mountainside. Until the early 80s, the farms were only accessible on foot, then some of them were equipped with private mini-cable cars, which immensely …
On Easter Sunday, Judas dolls are traditionally blown up in San Miguel de Allende. A dozen or so papier-mâché figures, now representing real-life “traitors” from recent history, first dangle above the assembled crowd in the town’s main square before being detonated one by one. When …
Less than a month after the Great Ethiopian Run, Addis Ababa’s national 10K race, the city’s running fanatics are already training again in Meskel Square. That’s probably where they come from: the top Ethiopian athletes I admire every year at the Berlin Marathon. I couldn’t …
In the morning at seven, the monks of Thaton come to get fed. For the donor of the food, it is an honor to give out the food for free to the begging monks. This honor by giving to other fellow human beings is an …