After travelling in China 4 times... "China is different"...that's what I like to say being asked "How is China?".

 

And I could not find any better word here to explain what I mean with this. Of course the food is different but it would be wrong to say it is not good. In fact I sometimes have to forget what I am eating and I learned to not further ask what is between my chop sticks when my partner says "Its good for the man..." - Baijou, and everybody should taste it once, is terrible at least for us europeans. Whatever it is, the translation white liquor is not fair as it is not indicating a little bit what you feel after your first sip. China is wide, China is fast and China is slow at the same time. China is different...

Calabria, Italy ... I did not know how beautiful Italy is before I arrived in Calabria. I strongly recommend to put this part of Europe on your travel schedule. The history is interesting- all the great civilization like greeks, romans, arabs and others came through and left their fingerprint.

 

Still their are villages established by albaniens in the 15th century trying to elope from the Turks. I heard that some of the old people in these villages still speak old-albanien only because they are living so isolated. Today you can find influences of this history in the kitchen and the variety of different food is wide and varies from town to town. Fantastic!

Iran... This was one of my most impressing trips. I can not remember many times that I felt so welcomed like in Tehran and Ahvaz, Iran. Being on a business trip I was invited to their private houses and had dinner with their families. Not forgetting all difficulities the political world brings us we shall try to understand each others. Unfortunately I lost almost all pictures after resetting my system- what a shame.

 

However, I would not hesitate to go back to this country ... 

The United States of America ... I lived almost 5 month there for the asphalt project from August 2006 -  December 2006. In 2007 I was 5 times or 5 weeks travelling there. And what else could I say than this: This country has so many different faces to discover - it is just amazing. Personally I would say the true America would not start one inch before the border of Texas. Texas and Arizona are my favorites out of the 30 States I visited so far - did I tell you I love my job :-) ?

Baile Átha Cliath ... Dubh-linn ... Dublin - Although it is mentioned in the first century Dublins history really started in 795 when Vikings started invading Ireland and finally settled at the black pool or in their language "Dubh-linn". Later the Normans took over and finally the British Empire thought it would be time to say hello and King Heinrich II landed there in 1171. Until the beginning of the last century Ireland was under british rule. In 1916 they started the revolution followed by the irish independancy war and finally Ireland was independant in 1922. Since that day no english Queen or King ever visited the country, however there are rumors this might change in 2008. Today it has - I think - 1.000.000 pubs if I would count only the good ones. In other words... NICE!

Prag - Prague - Praha ... was founded around 200 BC by Celts whom were replaced by Germanics later. The Slave conquered'
the site fromthe 4th century. King Vladislav II had the first bridge
on Vltava (Moldau...) in 1170 and later built also the famous
Charles bridge. In 1618 the defenestration of Prague provoked the 30 years of war. Today 1.200.000 million people are living
here. It is a nice, charming city - if you go out for dinner, be
prepared: Bohemian cuisine only knows huge portions :-)
Excellent beer and a smooth Becherovka will round up a nice dinner.
 

Paguera, Mallorca

 

We spent one week in Paguera on the Isle of Mallorca in July 2008. Some of the pictures we made can be found beneath. Not too much to say about history and culture, but it was a wonderful week. The climate is fantastic, fish and wine as you would dream of - very good for chilling.