Blog Posts
Waiting in Ulan Bator
I would not have chosen to stay in the Mongolian capital for almost a week, but that was how long it took the Chinese embassy to process my visa application. Applying there had felt difficult and uncertain at the time, but I had done my homework and in hindsight it […]
Working on a Ranch in Mongolia
Most of my time in Mongolia I spent as a volunteer at Anak Ranch, a farm in Northern Mongolia, run by a German expat and his Mongolian wife. They had quite a number of horses, cows, sheep and goats. I was helping to milk the cows early in the mornings, […]
Update from Mongolia
Staying at a Ranch in Mongolia at the moment, with very limited internet access and a lot of work to do. From helping with milking cows at six in the morning to chopping wood to herding goats and sheep on the endless Mongolian planes… The real story is to follow, […]
Moscow – Ulan Bator (Trans-Siberian Railway)
Taking the Transsiberian Railway from Moscow to Ulan Bator was a memorable experience. You could do that journey in as little as five days, but I got off the train several times, twice (in Novosibirsk and in Orkhon, Mongolia) for almost two weeks each, so it took me around one […]
Trip to Lake Baikal: Olkhon Island
Irkutsk, 31 hours by train east of Novosibirsk, is a good starting point for tours to lake Baikal. Numerous people had told me to go to Olkhon Island, the biggest island in the world’s deepest lake. Unfortunately I only had two days for the excursion, since I had to get […]
Babí Léta in Novosibirsk
Babí Léta means Indian Summer in Russian and describes well my first week in Novosibirsk. We had mild and sunny autumn weather with temperature peaking at around 20°C while it was icy and snowing in Moscow. So Siberia isn’t always cold! Through HelpX I had found a really nice and […]
Teaching German in Russia
The day I arrived in Novosibirsk my host Larisa introduced me to her friend Olga, the German teacher at School 29. We chatted for a while (it was funny to speak German again) and she had me agree to join her for her lessons the next day. I was supposed […]
Alone in Perm36: Visiting a Gulag Museum
My first stop along the Transsiberian Railroad: Perm. Just above one million people live here, more than 1000km east of Moscow. I arrived at noon, quickly found the tourist information (as opposed to Moscow, this city is one of the few Russian cities that actually have one!), and went to all the […]
Impressions of Moscow
When I exited the train station on the morning of my arrival I instantly knew that I liked this city. It is huge, but clean and not as chaotic as you would expect this big a city to be. From almost everywhere you can see at least one of the […]
Circle of Light Festival
While I was in Moscow, the International Circle of Light Festival took place. Professional graphic designers from all over the world had created colorful animations and video mapped facades of different buildings throughout the city, such as the Bolshoy (=big) theatre and several pavillions at VDNKh (Exhibition of Achievements of […]
Update from Moscow
Hi everyone, I am still travelling, lots of gabventures going on at the time… That’s why there have not been any new posts lately. But everything will appear here in due time. How I lived in the Estonian forest and helped a young couple with their cool projects, how I […]
Pushkin – a palace worthy of a tsar
On my last day in Saint Petersburg I decided to go to Pushkin, a suburb named after the famous Russian poet who had begun his education in this place. After 30 Minutes on the metro and almost an hour in a crowded mini-bus that was speeding over ill-maintained bumpy roads […]
Four days in Saint Petersburg
Petrograd, Leningrad, Venice of the North, Paris of the East, or just Peter – Saint Petersburg has been called many things. And each of these names describe a different side of this beautiful city: You can find buildings of Soviet architecure, although not too many; they don’t “spoil” the old […]
Volunteering at a sustainable building site in Estonia
From Tallinn I went to the national park at the Baltic Sea coast called Lahemaa. There I stayed for almost two weeks with Mari and Jim, a young couple who live off-grid in the forest [off-grid: not being connected to public networks like water, electricity or waste water]. When I […]
Exploring Lahemaa National Park
When I took a day off from working I would usually go on a long bike tour and explore the national park. There are a few small traditional Estonian villages and some fishing settlements at the coast – and many hidden places to discover which are believed to hold spritual […]
Tallinn – Middle Age meets Modernity
I had very little time in Tallinn, but I still got to see most of “Old Town”. A compact, fortified city center with almost exclusively old buildings gives it its medieval touch and it almost feels like time travel walking through the narrow and bendy streets. Zooming out a […]
Latvia: Leaving the Comfort Zone
That’s mainly what my trip before Russia is all about. Getting used to travelling alone and to meeting people, hitchhiking and coping on my own. So when I got dropped off in Riga, Latvia I had no clue where to go. It was rather late, so I arranged a stay […]
An adventure begins… in Vilnius
Although already a few days away from home, I felt that my trip had not really started until I touched down in Vilnius, Lithuania. Before that, I had known the people I had stayed with and spent a wonderful time with. And they had taken care of everything. That had […]
Departure Day
After lots of planning, preparation and and packing I am finally sitting at the airport. The tention that has built up during the last couple of days is slowly disappearing. Nothing can be changed anymore at this point, I either have my stuff, or I don’t. But I am confident […]
My Around-the-World Trip (map)
Here I mapped my traveling route around the world. You can simply follow the read line and discover travelling stories along the way…
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