Traveling around the world: March 2015

Sailing From Europe To Latin America

Ola amigos,

After a month, we put forth for a long time ashore (a year?). We are in Lima, Peru arrived. And we have known it. Immediately all the second day to spend in the 'scrapheap' because we do not 'protected' by the good cooking of our cook on board.

Alex, we are brought to the port of Rotterdam and there we saw "our" ship, the Atacama. Even greater than we had imagined and fortunately neatly into the paint; we were immediately impressed. Incoming and "ola, buenos dias' calling, it would be a Chilean crew, the officers of Romanian origin were found to be.

In Europe, we got the chance to spend a day in port, we started in Rotterdam. We strolled through the city and we were asked for a photo shoot for an advert for 'Insurance city of Rotterdam. Perhaps you one of us in the AD or the metro and in the background the town hall. Thus we have earned at the last minute as much as 240 euros. And we would not work this trip, we agreed !! Hamburg, Antwerp (Missed Johan and Marie-Luce), Bilbao and Vigo visited. Yes, and when we went to leave Europe really!

Get an impression what we have seen along the way, see next YouTube slide show video.

Nice view of the North Sea

Kranes in the port of Rotterdam

Cranes and sailboats at the port of Rottedam

Nice sunbeams on the North Sea in April

Container storage

One of the bussiest maritime routes in the world

Wallenius Wilhemsen another freight ship

A lot of cargo ships in front of us on one of the bussiest routes of the world

Nice view from the bridge.

Bye bye Europe, setting sail for Latin America

Second part of our Trans Siberian Express

The land of the mighty Genghis Khan appeals to the imagination. Tundra and steppe areas located in the north, a mountainous area (Altai) in the middle, and the Gobi desert in the south. This is a beautiful country.

About a third of the, mostly Buddhist, people live in the capital Ulan Bator. The rural population lives mainly nomadic in traditional felt tents, gers / yurts (yurt comes from the Russian, Mongolians prefer the term ger) and provides its necessities by livestock; sheep, horses and camels are kept in free-running herds. The north of the country has some form of industry in the form of wood processing and mining.

Naadam (meaning game or competition) is the national festival of Mongolia, which is held every year from July 11 to July 13. The games played are Mongolian wrestling, horse back riding and archery. Women also now take part in the archery and horse back riding. These competitions are somewhat similar to the Olympics. Don't be suprised to see a wrestler from Mongolia in the finals.

Enjoy the pictures and get an impression of what you can expect in Mongolia. You should know that the great hospitality of the people is difficult to capture in the photo. On your way you are welcomed in every ger. Coffee or tea is exchanged (by tourists) for a bowl of Airac (fermented mare's milk). Out of courtesy don't forget to accept this with two hands. And, put your hands through the pillars that hold the ger upright. Furthermore, you will find that the people very brotherly interact. While traveling, by bus or jeep, they group together and sing the most beautiful songs. The worst comes when you youself have to sing a song.

Train from Irkutsk to Ulan Bator

Main square Ulan Bator

Horse back riding

Drinking Airac

Wrestling and Eagles

Archery

Trans Siberian Express Moscow To Irkoetsk

We traveled some time zones, and here we are, quite some distance from Moscow. Irkutsk to be exactly. To began in Moscow where we stayed some days visiting the Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's Basilica, Lenin's mausoleum and even a ballet at the Bolshoi theater (we have seen Don Quixote, tickets were sold on the black market. We had caviar and drank champagne from plastic cups during the break). The metro is an efficient way to travel through the city and is very beautiful, each station has its own Art Deco style.

First stage was from Moscow to Irkutsk. Second stage from Irkutsk to Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia, and third stage from Ulan Bator to Beijing. At our first stage we had to share the coupé with a skunk, a lad who stank of armpit sweat, what an unpleasant smell. Fortunately language barriers could be broken by playing a game of chess. He could play chess well.

During our trip we could buy some tasty local snacks at stations where we stopped for 15-20 minutes, from smoked fish to pancakes with goat cheese. We drank a lot of beer with all nationalities we met at the train and played cards. It was real fun. Scenery was not so beautiful though.

When we arrived at Irkutsk we went straight to Lake Baikal by bus. Music from Modern Talking was played out loud at the bus station: 'You're My Heart, You're My Soul'. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world with unique flora and fauna. It is the Baikal seal's habitat. We stayed in a small house of wood with a family. We had to do our poo poo on the box in the poop shed back in the garden. Alongside stood the 'bathroom'. Before you could have a shower we first had to fetch water from the well, 400 meters away. We had good food, hiked, sailed, swam (brrrrrrrr) and hung out in the local pub. Few people wanted to speak English with us.