With a stopover in Delhi we flew back to Germany after nearly one year of traveling. We spent the last of our money in Delhi airport to get some food.
In Frankfurt we were met by Max‘ uncle who gave us our train tickets to get back home.
After one year of spending most of our time together we split ways in Würzburg, where Max took the train to Röckersbühl and Paula went to Ansbach. Of course Paulas train was late.
In Bangkok we had a hostel at the waterfront where we got stung quite a lot by bugs. For food we found a restaurant shack by the water next to a bunch of washing machines. In town we found some of the crazy tshirts that Bangkok is known for.
We got a lot of reading done and met Tije on his birthday to celebrate. He had booked a room in a hotel and we had an amazing view of Bangkok from there.
After two weeks, it was time to finally go back home to get some good german bread, ham and Club Mate.
After our relaxing stay at the beach we went to our last big stop on our journey around the world: Siem Reap and the ruins of Angkor Wat.
We found a very nice and green hostel that was very quiet and a little bit outside the main area. Max took a cooking course in the town and we walked around the market a little bit.
We had especially saved some money for this sight so we got a personal driver for our day of visiting Angkor Wat who would drive us around. We did not know how big the whole temple area was and so this was a surprise for us.
After our visit to Siem Reap we found out over facebook that Tije, one of our hiking companions from Nepal was also in Town. One our last night in Siem Reap we met up and made plans to meet up in Bangkok, our last step on our journey.
Traveling is expensive so we spent the next weeks at the beach in Sihoukvil. The wind was kind of cold sometimes but we still had a great time. While swimming drunk in the sea one night we discovered that there was glowing algae that glowed when moved.
We slept in a small, windy hut at the beach that we bartered down from 8 to 5 dollars a night. The hostel was very nice and as long time guests we got bear for cheaper in the evening.
In Phnom Penh we were kind of low on money so we walked around town to see some of the buildings. We could have done of the tours of the mass graves or blown up a cow but that was all too expensive for us.
It was quite interesting that everything in Cambodia is payed in Dollars, but the change is given in the local currency.
We went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The area was very touristy and therefor very expensive. To get the full experience we took a guided tour with our personal guide at the Taj Mahal.
Since the area was not very nice to look at, we did not stay very long and soon went back to Delhi and booked our flight to our next destination: Cambodia.
Our time in Rishikesh was filled with yoga for max and a lot of sitting in Cafes for Paula.
Rishikesh is right next to a river and while we did not do anything exiting there were some river rafters that one could watch. There were also some temples but we had enough of temples from our time in Delhi. Also, the river seemed really dirty.
Paula also bought a really nice red indian dress with silver stitching
After a not so great experience in India the first time around, Paula did not want to return but Max wanted to do some yoga in Rishikesh. As a compromise we decided that Paula would get a few days in Delhi to buy lots of fabric and trimmings.
The border crossing from Nepal to Delhi was one of the worst yet. We overstayed our visa in Nepal for two days and were prepared to pay for the overstay at the crossing. We payed the nepalese border guards but they gave us the wrong date on the stamp. When we arrived at the indian border point a few minutes later, they wanted money to admit us with the wrong date. We were separated into two different rooms, and luckily our bus driver came in at some point and paid the money for us. Paula still had to stay in a different room and enter the passport data into the computer of the border agents while he watched. At our next stop we got some money from the ATM and paid the bus driver back.
Because we did not shop the whole time we were in Delhi, we had some time to go sightseeing. We discovered that the tourist prices are 6 to 10 times the prices that the locals pay and we had to really descide on what to do and what to leave out.
While most of Delhi was really dirty, it was really surprising how clean the subway stations were. To enter a subway station you had to pass through a metal detector and Paula lost a lot of lighters to the guards.
At the end of our stay in delhi we sent a big package back home with the hiking stuff and the fabric. The packages are surprisingly cheap to send with the indian post and are quite fast for the price.
Since Paula got to shop for fabric, the next stop is Rishikesh so that Max can do some yoga. Also, we booked our flight back for the 28th of July since we do not have a lot of money left. The Flight is from Bangkok to Frankfurt so we still have time to see some of Asia.
After Kathmandu we took some time to go to Pokhara and get some relaxing done. Next to doing nothing we went up to the peace pagoda, and on the way back we took a boat over the lake. It was very warm so Max swam along the boat.
We stayed in a hostel by the lake and had an amazing time lying around after hiking for so many weeks. While we were in Pokhara, Kathy celebrated her birthday and Alejandro got a tattoo. Our time and visa were running out after two weeks and we got on a bus that would take us to Delhi in India.
The way back to Kathmandu from Namche was a lot faster than the way up, especially since we found out that there is a town called Salleri with a bus service to Kathmandu. It was nice to hike parts of the way up and see the changes in the nature with all of the flowers starting to bloom.
After reaching Kathmandu, we went to one of the more relaxing hostels in Kathmandu to take some time after the exhausting trip. Max wanted to go back to India next to do some yoga so we went to the inidan embassy to get a visa for India.
The pressure to do anything was off so we took some time to take in the sights around Kathmandu and do some shopping there. We treated ourselves to a lot of good food and lots of relaxing. We went to the place where they burn the dead and Paula nearly got robbed by a monkey.
