Ko Ma - Snorkeling!

Sawasdee krab สวัสดีครับ,

after sleeping for 2,5hours Robert and me decided to go snorkeling! 

After getting home from the half moon party I searched my cellphone because of the alarm clock. But I didn't found it anymore.... I thought, that I was too bucketed but in the end it just was not there any more... So I thought I lost it in the taxi last night.... Robert and me were laying in the back of a Pick up truck, which was prepared with lots of pillows... so I thought, that it just slipped out of my pocket.... So we went to the taxi driver (his name is Sorn) and checked his truck... but there was nothing... luckily his neighbor took my cellphone out of the car, because the alarm clock was just too loud in the morning.... hahaha so I got it back... after getting it back we asked him if he also can help us with the snorkeling trip... he told us a price and we just went with it! 

Half moon party - One of the biggest party events in Asia!

Sawasdee krab สวัสดีครับ,

last night Robert and me joined one of the big party events in asia!

Once upon a time people started to realize, that the moon and the stars are unbelievable intensive in Kho Phangan. I think it is because there is no light pollution around here, because it is in the middle of the ocean and here are really just a few houses. No streetlights!  I have never seen so many stars in the sky! In the cities we just see the big bright ones.... but over here it is like there are more than twice as much as you can see at home.....Of course the moon is even more intense than the stars.... It is really like a huge lamp in the sky.... 

Anyway people thought, that they have to celebrate the moon once a month! So they started to dance for the full moon and called it full moon party! Every month approximately 10.000 people from all over the world come together to celebrate this nature phenomena! And because people always wanna get more and more money nowadays they celebrate also half moon and black moon.... so there is a huge "rave" every week....kkkkk

And because people want to glow like the moon they get shiny tattoos! We got them too! Now you can guess which arm is Roberts and which is mine! kkkk

Kho Phangan - Neverland!

Sawasdee krab สวัสดีครับ,

The first day on Kho Phangan was more than perfect! We had the best breakfast I had in a year! Everything you can think about was at the buffet.... Even if we spent the last weeks in hotels.... This one was perfect, maybe because we were dining in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand, maybe because we have 32°C with a soft wind on our skin, but maybe because we start to relax..... or the buffet is really just too good!

Night train or freezer?! - How to get from Bangkok to Kho Phangan

Sawasdee krab สวัสดีครับ,

our journey from Bangkok to Kho Phangan took over 24hours! And yes the trip was worth it! I think we took all vehicles you can think of! At first we had to take a taxi to the Bangkok Central Station! And this Central station looked like old.... very old... like built up in the colonial era... And I think it was build during the time....

The second we entered a guy came straight to us and asked us where we wanna go....like everywhere, but after checking his outfit and his ID I told him and he sent us to an agency.... in the end we met the first ladyboy (he told us immediately) he took us to the agency and Robert was really really surprised, that he didn't figured...kkkk

Anyway with agency we booked our trip from Bangkok to Kho Phangan.... So the whole ride.... And for Thailand the service was kind of brilliant... Even if you had to trust the people... but sometimes it is good to trust people, right?!

Last night in Bangkok!

Sawasdee krab สวัสดีครับ,

Out last night in Bangkok was shorter then expected! 

With this very characteristic sunrise in Bangkok our night started....

I was laying in my bed in the hotel when the light suddenly turned into a very warm and at the same time aggressive yellow light.... it was twilight time.... good for edward and Bella, but for Robert and me it was time to enjoy the last party...

Wat Arun - Porcelain temple

Sawasdee krab สวัสดีครับ,

the last temple Robert and me visited during our stay in Bangkok was the big temple Wat Arun! It was a different kind of temple in compare to the others....

No gold, not so many statues, but a lot of porcelain! 

I think it was the most adventurous temple in Bangkok we explored. The stairs to the highest platform were so f***ing steep! You had to take care not to fall down again.... 

The grand palace - phra borom maha ratchawang

Sawasdee krab สวัสดีครับ,

The great palace is really a masterpiece of culture and art! After the laying buddha we were very impressed and I didn't expect to get more flashed as before. But the grand palace in bangkok, where the kings of Siam (today Thailand) from the later 18th century till the 20th century lived, was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I can compare it to the big monuments I have seen in europe and Korea and this palace would be in the top five! Definitely!

I don't want to describe all the single pictures, but you have to check them out!

Wat Pho - Laying Buddha

Sawasdee krab สวัสดีครับ,

the first temple we went in Thailand was located in Bangkok. It was the Wat Po temple where the first traditional Thai massage school ever located is. But before we arrived there we had to get there.....

They have a 46 meter long and 15 meter high laying buddha, and he is gold! I was pretty exited to see this statue and it was worth it! 

Sky Bar - New Korean friends

Sawasdee krab สวัสดีครับ,

I think you all know the movie Hangover 2! I saw this one even two times in the cinema....  And I think you all remember the scene where the wolfs pack has to meet the crazy mafia boss on top of the sky hotel. They met him with Mr. Chao! 

Anyway, Robert and me just wanted to feel like the wolf pack! So we went to the sky tower. Of course we had to  change our cloth, because we were running around all day in T-shirt and shorts. But we packed our pants and shirts and so we went to the toilet in the basement...kkkkk

Bangkok - First impression

Sawasdee  kar สวัสดีครับ,

Robert and me are now in Thailand! We arrived in Bangkok INternational airport two days ago and we rocked the city! My first impression was not as good as I expected. I was a little bit sad, because I thought, that this city is much more exciting! We went to our Hotel, took a shower and started the first day in bangkok. Of course we had no plan where to go, because we just researched stuff for the second and third day.... But I think to get a first imprression of the city it is always good to use the public transport. So we used first taxi, then the water bus.... but you will see what we saw during our first day...

Most significant thing are the cats and dogs all over the streets. They are not violent, but they are there.... They wanna have some food from the tables on the street.....

Tourist Party Diamond!

Ni hao 你好,

at the last night in Hong Kong we met a guy from the US and he invited us to some kind of foreigner party. They are pretty big on facebook and they were the number one party sensation for Hong Kong on Tripadviser.com so we were kind of spontaneous and we joined the party. There were so many people around, so we had a lot of fun! 

Surprise for Natze! Irene and Tim!

Ni hao 你好,

the time I visited Natze in the UK (Durham) I met her friends Irene and Tim. 

They were exchange students like I am now in Korea. We had lots of fun and enjoyed our student life. Now, 2 years later I met them again in their hometown, Hong Kong!It was kind of spontaneous for everybody! Irene and me set up a date and met in our hotel lobby. She has never been in this part of Hong Kong, but she was a very good leader!

Tian Tan buddha - Po Lin monastery

Ni hao 你好,

on the second day in Hong Kong Robert and me went to the Tian Tan Buddha, which is located on Lantao Island, what is a little bit south-west from Hong Kong City. The Big Buddha is the biggest sitting Buddha statue in the world, which is located outside. He represents the symbiosis between human and nature, I talked before about kkkk

It is very easy to get there just subway and then cable car! The cable car takes 25 minutes and it rides 520 m into the sky....

Symphony of lights - Hong Kong skyline

Ni hao 你好,

a very famous tourist attraction in Hong Kong is the "Symphony of lights"! It is supposed to be a real big laser show on top of the skyline of Hong Kong!

Everyday at 8pm they show this spectacle! So Robert and me went to the avenue of stars again to watch the big skyline... we waited for several "ten minutes" and then it started.....

Ferry - Shing-Mun-River / Avenue of stars

Ni hao,

after running around in this very crowded city for so long we thought about a little bit more relaxing way to get from A to B. Or from the one riverside to the other.... 

Cat street - Kitschsquare!

Ni hao,

after visiting the spiritual temple we went to the "famous" tourist shopping market. Actually it was pretty hard to find, but we did it! They had lots of different trash! While visiting the first sales stall we found so much stuff we thought it is like "Flohmarkt" flea market stuff.... But at the next stall they had the same stuff.... kkkk so they produce old wracked clocks and play cards and very old poster!

Man Mo temple - Incense stick time

Ni hao,

two days ago Robert and me visited the Man Mo temple. As you know I visited lots of temples in Korea and Japan, but I have never seen something like this!

You can compare this temple to a dizzy dream you have after a wild night.... Everywhere are incense sticks and smoke.... The moment you enter this temple you are encased of the smell of enlightenment! 

Nature - Humaneness - Symbiosis

Ni hao,

so, after the Victoria peak we wanted to explore more of the fascinating district....

And what we found just by walking around was very cool.... The city mixed up with the rain forest and with a zoo?!

Victoria Peak - Hong Kong

Ni hao,

this morning, after finishing the spartacus training in the fitness room, Robert and me went to the Voctoria Peak in Hongkong!

It is a mountain located right next to the business quarter of Honkong, called Central! And guess what... If you have seen "Battlefield" this year in the cinemas.... It is the place where the alien ship crashes into the skyscrapers!

Hongkong - First impression

Ni hao,

after arriving at the airport with just 2 hours delay we got our luggage immediately! We arrived at the claim and there were our two bags! Perfect! The rest of the journey was very easy! We went to the place the Hotel had their bus transfer and we chartered the bus. The bus left the airport terminal and suddenly the "skyline" (just apartments) rose out of nowhere in front of our eyes... The only thing I had to add was "Wow"! This view was incredible! But taking pictures during the bus ride at night.... impossible..... But it looked like in the fifth element.... Because on top there were huge expensive apartments and down in the streets......

Busan - Beijing - Hongkong

Ni hao,

today was the big day.... asia traveling season has begun!

Robet and me started at Busan's lovely airport Gimhae to Hongkong...

At Gimhae airport Youjung and Dawoon said goodbye and wished us all the best for our travel. I was very happy to see them one last time for 11 days kkkkk

Laserkraft -FIX!

Anjong,

maybe I should share the pictures of the last night with Haritz... even if I don't post pictures of him, me or Robert.... We had lots of fun during the party!

Eurocup 2012 - Welcome quarter final!

Anjong,

tonight was the second time I watched Eurocup 2012 in Korea! First time I was drunk and came back from party with Robert.... This time we watched the third german match Germany vs Denmark! Of course I was able to wear my Podolski tricot for a reason this time! 

Saturday night, I feel the air is getting hot!

Anjong,

like you baby!

Here the guys of the night!

Please notice the height of the penis right behind G-1!

Better than expected!

Anjong,

on friday I met with Dawoon to spent one of my last days together!

We met very early, so 11am to have breakfast! We went to Paris Baguette and talked for about an hour.  Talking was pretty good, but for both of us working out and talking is much more better! So we went for the last time to the PK gym in Seomyeon,  paid the last time 5.000Won and worked out together for the last time...

After working out we had Bubble tea and went to the cinema! The only english movie was "Lockout" actually its a french movie, what you really don't realize.... It was really better than expected... pretty good movie....Before I felt so tired, that my eyes shut down several times during the commercial...but once the movie started I was 100% awake! 

Bubble Tea!

Anjong,

today was the last exam and thats why I went to the hair dresser with Robert and before we checked out the bubble tea place again!

Last week Youjung introduced me to "Bubble Pong" in Seomyeon! You can leave, like always Exit 2 and walk straight... for about 5 min..... it is located on the left side of the main street.... next to another subway mall entry...

Fernfieber or just homesick!?

Anjong,

today a lot of stuff happened! I got the final date for my return to germany, Alex and Sophie started to travel and I prepared myself for the last final test tomorrow here in Korea.
That's why I realized... tempus fugit!

After all these weeks of laboratory, studying, writing my bachelor thesis, ICEA 9th and of course meeting Youjung and Dawoon, I suppressed, that my time is really running away.... I have just about three weeks left in Korea!!
The rest I will spent with traveling... James even asked me today for one last meeting... that's so sad...

Actually I am a little bit afraid of going back to germany.... I adapted korean lifestyle so much into my daily routine, that I just can't imagine being back in germany.

Big Bang rule the world....

Anjong,

a few days ago the MTV World act Big Bang released a new video. It is AMAZING!

The song is called "Monster" and honestly, after "Fantastic Baby" I thought, that they could not be better.... they are not, but they hold up to the level!

They formed in 2006 and their success is increasing nearly every day.....

I think their newest album "Alive" which has been re-released last week as "Still alive" is their most successful record.

Sensation colloquium!

Anjong,

last night we had an amazing, outstanding, fantastic, awesome, and and and and...... NIGHT!

Go, go power rangers!

"After-colloquium-pre-party-party"

Anjong,

last night all the germans gathered in my room to digitalize all the certificates we got during our year in Korea. We have to send them to Berlin, because they have to complete our grades before we apply for the master studies. Anyway, David (the one you all googled yesterday! kkkk) had the perfect idea that everybody had to take a Soju-shot for every A+ we got... and there were a lot of....

After this funny action the germans wanted to party, but pretty far away.... My friend Marcius form Singapore asked me earlier the day where the beer can chicken was... and so I decided to join him and his friends with Marlena.

Colloquium!

Anjong,

today was the big and nearly final day! I had to present my work I have done for the last 4 months!

Nowadays Prof. Stahl (TU Berlin) is in Korera, he is a good friend of our "leader" at the DSU in Busan. They studied together at the TU Berlin, so old men Bromance.... during the introduction to the colloquium day he mentioned, that they know each other now for 30 years.... What is very impressive....

Anyway... after the first colloquium (David) it was Maikos and my time, because we worked on the same field, we shared our results together.

I was very excited, no maybe I should say nervous.... But after the first few minutes we  got really in the talking mood.... so the 30 min were really short.

Streetart - Moving Art

Anjong,

while visiting Haritz exhibition last week I took some pictures from other projects to make Jurye Dong more beautiful. 

Dirty BBQ Place!

Anjong,

after a long day of studying for my BRT / BPT (Bio reactor technic and Bio process technic) I called Youjung and Dawoon to take me out for a quick dinner, so we decided to go to the dirty chicken place we all love so much.....they arrived earlier in Seomyeon, so they decided to go and order in advance.... so the chicken will be faster on the table..... but when I came there the dirty chicken place was closed... so I sent a message to give me the next hint.... so I got it... they were in the BBQ place next to the dirty chicken place.... the chairs (red coca cola plastic chairs) were the only dirty things in there...because the food was extraordinary good!!!

Korean baywatch!

Anjong,

as I promised on friday I want to show you what else happened at the sand-festival at Haeundae! There was kind of a show with police lifeguards! And yes it was as interesting as you think....kkkkk

But maybe there was more action in the end....

Taejeongdae - ICEA goes nature again!

Anjong,

today was ICEA again.... we met at Seomyeon at 11am to give all the members their new mission... It was kind of Scavanger hunt... the members were separated in groups and got the mission.... I can't tell you about their journey from Seomyeon to Taejeongdae, because I had to go with Dawoon there in advance.....Taejeongdae is one of the characteristic hot spots of Busan, but I have never been there.... so lucky me!

But this activity rocked!

Haeundae Sandfestival!

Anjong,

today I didn't wanted to start studying in the early morning, so I delayed it to the afternoon.... I met in the early morning with Dawoon and Robert in Haeundae (exactly in the subway->Seomyeon) because today starts the big Sandfestival. I don't know why the sand is celebrated, but it was quit fun.... I think it was just a delayed opening ceremony for the summer season. So, hungry for some distraction and fun we went to the beach!

The moment our feet touched the sand I knew why we celebrate it! It is such a unique feeling walking at the beach through the sand next to the sea... but another thing happened the moment we arrived, but I will show you in another post....was too cool!

Anyway for the celebration some artists build up giant sand sculptures and I think they were pretty cool!

Here maybe even the most impressive.... It is a big palast made out of sand next to the skyscrapers....

Check out all the images after the jump....