New York – Fast Food, Rooftops und Hidden Bars

Posted on July 31, 2015 by schdani

Die erste Reise nach der Weltreise

Nach meiner Rückkehr von der Weltreise habe ich erst einmal ein Monat mit meiner Familie in Österreich verbracht bevor ich im August meinen Umzug oder besser gesagt “Rückzug” nach Barcelona organisiert habe. Man sollte eigentlich meinen dass ich mal vorerst genug hatte vom Reisen, aber es kommt ja ohnehin anders als man denkt.

Our friend has started working at a large software company, got the first months of an apartment on Park Avenue provided and then were still air tickets on offer ... so, we went on to New York! 🙂

Obwohl die Temperaturen Mitte/Ende September wirklich sehr angenehm sind, kamen wir beim Shopping- und Sightseeingmarathon ganz schön ins Schwitzen.

Es war sehr interessant einige Dinge die man immer im Fernsehen sieht, einmal live zu beobachten, sie die unzähligen Demonstrationen im Bereich der Wall Street rund um die Börse. Das Sicherheitsaufkommen war extrem hoch, unzählige Polizisten riegelten alles um das Gebäude ab und auch den berühmten Stier konnten wir nur aus einiger Distanz bewundern.

Dennoch gab es Leute, die das ganze sehr gelassen nahmen und auch für die Angestellten der umliegenden Firmen ist es wohl schon zum Alltag geworden, dass sie sich ausweisen müssen um nach dem Mittagessen wieder zurück in die Straße ihres Arbeitgebers zu dürfen.

Börse NYC

It's really seen much fun that much of what we know as cliché from movies, real extisitert. I speak yum example of countless fast-food restaurants, ice cream truck, the squirrels in Central Park and the emergency exit stairs on the buildings.

Very healthy we really do not nourished in the few days, but just when you want to see as much as possible in a short time, "Fast food" comes in handy. We could have ordered salad instead of burritos and nachos sometimes, but good, it tastes to Coke so halt better 😉

Before we report in the next article about culture, I would like to deal with the issue of shopping. Fortunately, the dollar was in September still quite low against the euro so we could run riot in our Century 21 Outlet. The selection in the shops in Manhattan is also really impressive.

Because often we needed a little stop at Starbucks to get back to recharge your batteries and to read the New York Times 😀

new York at night

Ja, auch bei Nacht haben wir New York erkundet! Und nein, shame on us, wir haben kein Broadway Musical besucht…..Es war die perfekte Mischung aus von unserem Freund Carlos ausgesuchten Rooftop Bars mit spektakulären Ausblick auf Manhatten und Hidden Bars die wohl derzeit stark im Trend liegen.

Meine absolute Lieblingsbar war die PDT (Please don’t tell). Man betritt sie über das Hotdog Restaurant Crif Dogs. Links neben dem Eingang befindet sich eine 0,5 m2 große oder besser gesagt kleine von Holzwänden umgebene Telefonzelle in die man sich reinquetscht. Danach, wie sollte es auch anders sein, greift man zum Hörer und wählt durch. Am anderen Ende der Leitung meldet sich die Empfangsdame der Bar. Ist die Bar gerade nicht wie fast immer überfüllt, öffnet sich die andere Tür der Telefonzelle und man ist mitten in der Bar.

Bali – einst und heute

Posted on October 21, 2014 by schdani

The Island of the Gods Bali under the spell of mass tourism

Even as I, 2007, the small Indonesian island of Bali visited for the first time could speak in some areas from mass tourism. Back then visit annually less than two million foreigners the island. For 2014, over 4 million tourists are expected !!

Visitors are mainly from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. Just for the Australian tourists, Bali is a cheap holiday destination that is so different from anything they are accustomed to. But what the island has to offer so really everything?

Granted, there are many luxury resorts are famous for their Balinese spa, around the clock you can be pampered at high prices here. You will pass under the tourists producers like Kuta and put one foot on the road, we pulled one of the countless stalls, bright billboards and especially the ever-moving traffic quickly from the paradise thinking. Although the majority of the population can afford only a moped anyway, Kuta bursting at the seams:

Clearly stands a the contrast between the very modest living conditions of the Balinesier compared to the abundance of goods and services for tourists in the eye.

However, the two most important problems far in my opinion are the sex tourism and the drugs. On every street corner you get "massages" available and already in the advertising posters of meistsn beauty salons can you guess which are attached notes Services here in the back rooms.

Again and again we see men of all ages who are accompanied by local beauties. Even the way from Australia I heard stories of guys whose friends were sold at a bar already on the way from the airport by taxi driver in the back room and had sex before they were even at the hotel.

The drug scene in Bali has long gone by the press and on the street you can buy various souvenirs except substances. Not infrequently, drunken or drugged drug tourists dan night attacked and robbed on the way to the hotel. Therefore, local groups have organized the patrol go to the tourists to protect.

Too bad that where formerly fruit stands are shopping centers were located and can be seen only in the background the numerous temples.

Many locals have sold their reasons for investors, there will arise new hotels. The surfers paradise Bali will continue to be a popular destination for young and old. I will probably not among the millions of visitors who gods island of Bali has lost all charm for me.

Labuan Bajo

Posted on October 6, 2014 by schdani

Labuan Bajo - gateway to the Komodo National Park

Only 1.5 hours flight from tourism to Bali, past smoking volcanoes, in the middle of nowhere an ultra-modern, semi-finished airport is suddenly visible on the as always if you need it urgently the ATM is not working ....

The rest of the sleepy fishing village is located in the Indonesian rural style: Dusty roads, most shops are open at the front wooden huts on the street humans and animals abound, even in non-usual number of different means of transport.

The roads wind their way up the small hill and from the top you can observe in the individual lanes the daily lives of Indonesians.

I try to log in waste separation although there probably still very much educational work for the population needs to be done.

The majority of the population belongs to Islam and especially if like me you exactly the fasting month of Ramadan travels through Indonesia you see a lot of closed restaurants and hears the prayers of the mosques at night.

Actually, I asked myself this island of Indonesia just something tourist before, but we can

Again, in these remote areas especially the younger people wanted to be stylish on the go, this indicates this poster of a hair salon.

There are either luxury hotels which are outside of the village and its beaches are unfortunately dirty just like almost everywhere here, or you quartered themselves in simple accommodation. These are relatively expensive for Indonesian standards. Here one must reckon with nocturnal animal visitors ....

Unbelievable that only a few minutes away from the chaos ship, dirt and noise from Labuan Bajo away one of the most beautiful Marine National Park is located. Here around the islands of Komodo and Rinca can see the sea from sheer fish almost did not. The coral glow in unique colors, one is simply in a different world.

The brown hills of the surrounding islands are the perfect contrast to the deep blue sea. You meet fishing boats of the locals who have settled on the smaller islands and is fascinated how these people survive practically in such circumstances without an existing infrastructure.

Although I due to the intrusive Men do not recommend it as a woman traveling alone to Labuan Bajo, the Komodo National Park offers by far the most spectacular underwater life that I have ever seen and the sunsets are a culmination of each exciting day on Flores.

Snorkeling on Pulau Perhentian

Posted on August 2, 2014 by schdani

Snorkeling right from the beach away - Pulau Perhentian on

On both islands, snorkel tours are available where you put in a small motorboat very cheap to four different places. In addition to this trip we also rent even a kayak and drove almost all the points again, because it was nice sooo 😉 But right from the beach away you get a lot to see underwater life!

T3 - Tauchen auf Perhentian CM

Posted on August 1, 2014 by schdani

T3, Tauchen auf Pulau Perhentian

T3 is one of the dive sites on Pulau Perhentian Besar in which you will encounter huge rock formations. Some rocks form tunnels through which you can swim through.

The dive site for the slugs, the so-called Nudibranches is known of which there are about 3,000 different species. They are especially famous for the striking colors, some even light up at night.

On a day with rather poor visibility we were rewarded at the end of the dive with a turtle that swam comfortably in front of it.

The dive site is a very good place to test his skills as a diver. It is not easy dive through with all the equipment between the rocks.

On this rock there is a very different vegetation than elsewhere. Generally, it is a rather barren and colors loose Underwater landscape with coral and fish less than a few kilometers away at other dive sites. Nevertheless, it is interesting here to observe especially the small animals such as slugs.

Temple & Sailrock @ Perhentian Island

Posted on July 29, 2014 by schdani

Diving in Pulau Perhentian the Malaysian

The two Perhentian Kecil islands Pulau Besar and are a paradise for snorkelers and divers. The beach (there are no roads) is packed full of dive schools and the islands are the places where you can make a diving pass at best.

Below are images of two dives. Places on the Temple and Sail Rock, both well-known for its diverse plant and animal life

This filament devil fish (Inimicus filamentosus), which belongs to the family of stone fish, lives very well camouflaged on the sea floor and spreads if disturbed his brood fins and crawls on the sand along, hence its English name Indian Ocean Walkman.

Always nice to see: The angelfish

This fish swarm of yellow stain mackerel shimmered nicely to about 12 meters depth.

Found everywhere, especially on the sponges, are the Babyseegurken.

Very interesting to see the Longfin Batfish who live in flocks of up to 100 copies.

This blue spotted rays belonging to the family of the spot stingray has cleverly hidden under rocks. The intensity of the blue hue can be adjusted depending on camouflage.

The large barrel sponges come here quite often before and are often over a meter high and have a diamenter of up to 40 cm.

With so many fish and corals really every diver goes into raptures, especially if the whole then is as inexpensive as this country! Since there are no luxury resorts and good infrastructure in the Western sense, mass tourism is so far failed to materialize and the coral world still reasonably intact. Even while snorkeling can be here in Malaysia to experience a lot, also directly from the beach! Anyway, I've spent here very much time underwater and it has definitely paid off!

Sugarwreck - Diving in Pulau Perhentian

Posted on July 28, 2014 by schdani

The Sugarwreck – Tauchen in Malaysia

First, I'm not one soooo experienced diver and secondly I have sunken ships so far not really interested great. But then I had the opportunity in Malaysia, specifically on the island of Pulau Perhentian, a wreck in relatively good visibility to visit in reasonable depth.

The ship, which once transported sugar sank in 2000 during the monsoon season and is since removed to 12-18 meters depth only 30 minutes from Pulau Kecil.

Really amazing how many fish have settled there! This shoal of barracuda barracuda or of which there are 26 species and are generally seen as relatively aggressive, swam peacefully past us.

The shipwreck lies laterally on the seabed so that you can see through the Pullaugen.

This puffer fish can inflate at risk by injected water into the stomach. The spikes work so as barbs and makes it almost impossible to swallow the fish for attackers.

Their hexagonal plates made of bone armor is very characteristic of the too fast floating boxfish.

A surprise was waiting for us when we were just in appearance: a snakes-flat tail with a length of about 140 cm swims past us! Basically, the snakes are very shy and they took to flight, perhaps even more so when you consider that a bite could have life-threatening consequences.

The sea urchins were present in large numbers!

The Lionfish belong to the family of scorpion fish and have their hard jets poison that they use exclusively for defense. Here on Sugarwreck they swam in contrast to other dive sites not hidden in the crevices around but move freely on the wreck.

The bamboo sharks are usually not larger than 70 cm and spend most of their time on the floor or slow just to be like here in the wreckage.

Young and playful orangutans at Camp Leakey

Posted on July 28, 2014 by schdani

Die jungen Wilden! - Orangutanteenager im Camp Leakey

Orangutans have a life expectancy of about 50 years old. The reach sexual maturity occurs in females the age of seven. Among males with eight to fifteen years Whether it is a young or old monkeys, can be recognized by the color of the face which darkens with age and is finally black. In the males, the throat pouch and the Wangenwülste form only between 15 and 20 years of age.

More specifically comes close to the ape at Camp Leakey, which has established itself as a research station for the endangered primates. Dr. Biruté Galdikas has set up the camp in 1971, which is now also a central place for the Orangutan Foundation International is.

At the young age of the male organ still play with each other and so test their strength. Later they are against each other struggling for the hierarchy in the group.

This Orangutandame barred our way to feeding, lazy they just remained so motionless on the web are all up about 25 tourists on them have risen over it!

As we made our after feeding with the boat on the way to our sleeping place, I saw this young male orangutan named Atlas in the trees on the riverbank.

We stopped and the monkey approached the boat hoping to grab some food! Quick fruit pieces were brought from the kitchen to give to the curious and hungry Pongo pygmaeus. Be sure he wanted to climb directly onto the boat, we could very nearly avoided!

So the impossible came true, we could touch a Orangutan shortly after we have assured us that he has fully eat the mouth naturally 😉

Baby Orang-Utans auf Borneo

Posted on July 23, 2014 by schdani

Orang-Utan Babies – sooo flauschig!

Especially sweet are of course the very young orangutans. The babies are always to be found together with the mother. Constantly they cling to and take off when then only briefly from her.

After about a nine-month gestation period, the baby monkey is born and spent the first five to eight years with the mother. During this time, the boys learn everything they need to survive.

Every day build the rebuilding process-utans a nest that serves as a place to sleep. Also, this ability must learn the babies. At Camp Leakey, the animals are also fed with milk, which is very well received.

The babies are nursed by the mother, but also eat bananas and other fruits.

Just because it often comes to a dispute over the seizure and the males scare the females, including the orang-Utanbabies, the mothers do everything to get hold of enough food. In this case, the lady was walking upright from the dust by reaching for the top, so that no one comes to the fruits.

The fact that the babies spend so long time with her mother, so get a monkey Mama often only two to three cubs in their lifetime. Very rarely it happens that she rears two cubs of different ages.

As I said, the visit to the Tanjung Puting National Park with its orang-utans was not only despite the scorching heat of the skin thanks to Boots the most comfortable jungle tour I've ever done, but the encounter with the primates was a unique experience. Nowhere in the world to get the apes so close and can quietly observe their behavior. Hopefully it succeeds in clearing work and the pollution of the river to stop to prevent the extinction of orangutans.

Orangutanmännchen in Borneo

Posted on July 21, 2014 by schdani

The orang-Utanmännchen of Borneo

The males of these apes are almost twice as heavy as the females with 50 up to 100 kg.

On the 3 feeding stations Pondok Tangui, Tanjung Harapan Camp Leaky and there is a strict hierarchy among the males.

We witnessed a scene in which a male orangutan has attacked a female with her child, because this would take some bananas.

The central office of the National Park is the Orangutan Foundation International, which cares for the rescue of injured monkeys and their rehabilitation.

Last but not least we were still witnessing a mating ritual, in which the alpha male very brutal fleeing the females took from the tree and then fell upon them! Then how could it be otherwise, he remained sitting there calm and content.

It was really very impressive and a little scary to experience the Orangutanmännchen so close, especially as a direct waited on us on the way and we had to make returns march ......

And at last again some video clips of the great apes

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