Encounters

I thought I’d make an extra page for some of the people I met. Like a hall of fame or so. In chronological order. Cannot be complete, and I’m sorry for all the people and names I forgot.

Ralf S. & Zino: I’ve spent great time with them. Thanks for my first motor bike ride ever and all the other things, like showing me around in Bangkok and the insights into the Thai and Buddhist culture. Actually, that line is not enough by far to describe the quality of the moments.

 

 

 

Erik T.: We both have the same favourite movie (Magnolia) and had a very nice time in Bali, diving and not what. Unable to meet this friendly Finn again in Australia or New Zealand as he was always ahead by about two weeks.

 

 

 

Andreas T.: Swiss guy that I spent some good times with hanging out, especially at the Sky Garden nightclub 😉

Alex W.: Pilot from Munich. Attracted all the girls 🙂

 

 

 

Krystianna W. & Claire O.: Strange little girls I went to Ubud with. I enjoyed their company and their quirky way of being funny.

Shannon M.: Nice girl from the States I met in Bali.

 

 

 

Susy S., Roland & Lisa S.: Susy is a very friendly and kind friend of Steffi M., gave me some insight into the local culture and tipps. Nice couple!

 

 

 

 

Gregg: He was running the hostel I stayed in Phuket. Had some great discussions with him and he’s also the proof that you don’t need to have a straight-forward way of life and that you can start anything anywhere you like.

Darren S.: Introduced to me the secrets of Phuket As He Knows It and the White Trash(TM) concept regarding western girls. The funny thing is, if you’re aware of it, you really see a lot of White Trash girls. Took me on a ride to the night life district, but only if my name wasn’t Chris.

 

Taxi driver whose name I forgot: Had the most fantastic taxi ride of my life with this bass boosting fun mobile.

 

 

 

 

Tobias S. & Mike: I never learned so much about mantides and spiders than when wandering around in the jungle of Krabi. Was a fantastic week over there, climbing over one thousand steps to a Buddist temple and collecting poisonous spiders and other meeky creatures in the primary jungle. Thanks for letting me be part of the party.

 

 

Mr. Son & son: Owner of the Phanom Bencha Mountain Resort and a very kind guy. His son is an ace on the guitar, but he thinks, I’m on drugs because I was so funny all the time.

 

 

 

 

James F.: Living the dream, James, living the dream! Funny irish guy seeking for a job and drinking way too much 😉 And so did I when we went to an Irish Pub in Perth.

 

 

 

 

Nicolas G.: The good guy from France that made my stay in Australia both marvellous and an adventure. With his relaxed and keen style, we surfed the same wave. Thanks for the great time!

 

 

 

 

Christina O.: White Trash girl who travelled with us from Perth to Adelaide. One day she might realize that being reckless with other peoples hearts will get back to you eventually. This might be a bit hard on her. Or maybe I just envy her youth and her possibilities. Still, had some good moments, too.

 

 

Craig: Tour guide with the best secrets around the Nullarbor. Made our trip some much more worthwhile. And gave us some excellent free food, too.

 

 

 

 

Russel & Darren: Helpful Ozzies that made us feel okay when we had problems with our car while crossing the Nullabor.

 

 

 

 

Marina P.: Intelligent french girl who travelled with us from Adelaide to Melbourne. Was keen on seeing the nature, but in the last few days before the end of the travels, she went through a metamorphosis to being very uptight and particularily weird. Still can’t get over the fact that she didn’t want to share photos.

 

 

Claire, Russel, Iko, Sonja et al: The pack I was meeting over and over during the Overland Track in Tasmania. Cool people for a cool track.

Claudia A.: A nice girl I met waiting for the shuttle bus to the airport in Hobart. She lives in Bellingen, and told me to drop by, if I drove past it, but I didn’t have any contact data, so I couldn’t find her, when I went there a few weeks later. Sadly.

 

Mark N.: During my partying times in Noosa, Mark turned out to be a good companion and shared some common views about the world and… women. Had some great nights, thanks dude.

 

 

 

 

Two girls on the Fraser Island tour: Huh, sorry, can’t remember their names, but they were quite cool.

 

 

 

 

Nick, Petra S. and all the bunch during xmas: Thanks for making this time a good one. Sorry, I don’t remember all their names and Petra yet didn’t accept me on FB.

Rolf B.: Met him at Noosa Heads in my dorm room (Swiss postman) and again on the ferry from Manly to Sydney.

 

 

Chris G.: Friendly german IT guy I hung out with in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Was a very relaxing time, shared some good moments and experiences. Also was so kind to take my netbook and my Lonely Planet back to Germany. I’m sure we’ll cross paths somewhere in the future again.

Georg: IT guy that amazed me most for travelling around the world despite his minimal field of vision of about 4 degrees. He wore the nearly the same hat he had bought at the same booth on the market in Melbourne.

La U. & Frances: Open-minded couple travelling from Perth to Sydney. Their dog didn’t quite like me, but that didn’t stop them offering Chris and me a glass of fourty years old Johnny Walker (green label?) while we were camping in the Blue Mountains. Started a bon-fire and a great evening never to forget.

A family from US visiting her sister from Napier: Wow, what a great evening conversation we had. I am sorry I didn’t get the contact details of the girl, but…

 

William & Natalia: Another couple from Brazil on their honeymoon, but a very sweet one. We met while rafting on the Shotover river in Queenstown, but William also did the Skydive the same day as me. William promised to give me some good tips on Brazil for my journey.

 

 

 

Laura C.: Apparently somehow related to Helen Bonham-Carter, she is a very handsome girl from Norwich, UK, I met in Queenstown. Together with Denise and Justin we climbed some hills and had interesting talks on all topics, including toilets. I hope to see her again.

 

 

 

Axel, Gustav & Sebastian: Three very cool swedish guys who really had a wild time in Queenstown after their car broke down and made a surprise reappearance after their tent was flooded by rain on attempting to do the Routeburn track. Axel also introduced me into the advantages of playing with Drop-D tuning.

 

 

 

Denise & Herfried: Young (19) german girl travelling with her uncle on a world trip. Fresh and inspiring, and hitch-hiking in NZ. We spent a lot of time together, eating burgers and

Florian, Danny: Some more german guys at the backpacker. Exchanged some funny stories.

Izi & Babsi: German travellers from Munich. We went hiking to Ben Lomond in Queenstown together.

 

Justin D.: Chess Expert (score of around 2000) participating in an international chess competition in Queenstown. Also climbed all the way up to the Skyline Gondola (around 400 hm) deserving a lot of respect (although he sometimes seemed close to seizure) and we rode the luge together with much fun.

 

 

 

Roy, James, Malcom et al: Also chess master minds. Oh man, and I thought I was geeky 🙂 Malcolm especially was so cleverly entertaining. He’s got the Moves Like Jagger (and he always gets the girls through his confidence)!

 

 

 

 

Eddie H.: Cursing and swearing all day long, he’s one of the weirdest people I’ve ever travelled with. He’s honest, very earthbound and he knows what he wants. He can’t stand the sound of the left hand fingers moving across guitar strings, he detests rain and tramping. But he’s able to feel the beautiful moments with his whole mind.

 

 

 

Larsson: A young chap from the US who quit school to go to New Zealand to live the dream. We met on the Routeburn track and shared only a few hours of conversation, but it was a very excellent time. I hope to see him again somewhere during my travels, because it’s hard to again find soul mates who like melancholic or depressing movies 🙂

 

 

Chris(iane) D.: A 24 years young girl from Dortmund/Cologne with a lovely smile. We were travelling together for only a few days. She threw her shoes onto trees, dumped apple cores and banana skins anywhere and is probably becoming an Erik Penny and Ben Folds fan soon. Like me, she always hears music in her head. She’s the first person that also has this whacky brain. I had some of the greatest moments with her and it felt alright. I can’t believe I let her go home like that. But I’ll come visiting her, that’s for sure, as she took a backup harddrive of my pictures back home and two books. Thanks!

 

Sjoerd (aka Mr. Awesome), Alan, Emilia, Thomas, Tal: We hung out together in bars and night clubs during my first week of Buenos Aires. Thanks for the good time and the fabulous after-party conversation about whether a swiss army knife is a tool or a weapon and slug sex.

 

 

 

Jorge: Big Pink Floyd fan from Colombia. We shared a week together in Buenos Aires and had a lot of fun night clubbing and walking around. He got me to go to the Roger Waters concert and it was soooo great. He is also able to drink soooo much beer 🙂

 

 

 

 

Ben & Damon: Room mates from Wellington, New Zealand. Shared a good time in Buenos Aires. Damon looks a bit like a mixture of Ben Affleck and Jack, the guy from LOST.

 

 

 

 

Tarquin, Mirjam, Kari and Joanne: After the spanish lessons at school, we went around Buenos Aires together and Kari was the perfect tour guide and my private consultant, while Joanne introduced us into the funny world of Ozzie slang words. We even danced Milonga (aka Tango) together.

 

 

 

Ziba and her friend: Ziba from the UK had so much fun dancing when we were at the club and seemed to be a girl with brains, too! And her friend, she was nice, but couldn’t quite let the fire into her heart.

 

 

 

 

Svetlana & Julia: Oh my. The russian girls who Jorge and I met two days before we all had to disperse again. We went clubbing together and walked through the amazing Recoleta cemetary. Oh, if we had had more time…

 

 

 

Jule, Julia and X: Three german girls I spent a day with at the Iguazu Falls. Made the day real fun an much more enjoyable than if I was wandering around alone. Thanks!

 

 

 

Jen and Jen: These two room mates made me stay and flirt with them rather than having a chat with the big boys outside. And they also showed me this game on the iPod/iPhone where you had to guess the other’s persons painting!

 

 

 

Oliver, Max and Leigh: I met Oliver in the hostel in Foz do Iguazu, and he booked the same tour into the Pantanal as me. Leigh and Max were on the same bus to Campo Grande and also booked the tour. Together (with Charlie and George) we had a very good time in the Pantanal. Fascinating enough, Oliver has booked the same flights from Santiago to the Easter Islands and Tahiti and we will see eachother again in June latest!

 

 

George, Charlie and Hans: Part of the team in the Pantanal. Great fun. I met the three again after snorkeling in Bonito, but that was too obvious. However, I met Charlie (nicknamed “skinny”) and George two months later again in a random incident on a road in Copacabana, Bolivia. How weird is that?

 

 

 

Elisabeth, Schafer, Claudia and Patrick: We all stayed at the same hostel on Ilha Grande. We had a good time together, both night and day. Claudia and Patrick were going to Rio later, too, where I met them again (see other photos below).

 

 

 

Schafer, Omar, X and Kevin: Forgot the name of the other guy, but the gang around Schafer and Omar, all medicine students were great to hang out with. We also hiked to the Lopez Mendes beach together.

 

 

 

Manuela: Ex-work collegue and friend Manuela from Munich was a welcome surprise to meet up in Rio. With her contacts to Carla and Dudu, I had a most exciting time that would have been completely different without. Thanks!

 

 

 

Carla and Dudu: Friends of Manuela and unbelievably kind people, invited me to take part in all the activities with Manuela. Perfect guides through Rio, perfect BBQ on the roof-top of Dudu’s parents. I am so glad to get to know them and very thankful.

 

 

 

Claudia, Patrick, Regina and Gerald: Claudia and Patrick were known to me from Ilha Grande, where we had spent a few days together. However, compared to the nights in Rio, they were nothing. The MAZE was absolutely awesome! Thanks to Claudia for documenting this evening with photos. Regina and Gerald are friends of Fabian K. (ftak), who sent them to me to meet. Nice people and a welcome glimpse from back home. Thanks to all of you, including Fabian.

 

 

Anna, Tom, Anisa, Holly, Lisa, Charlotte, Sarah, Holly, Paul, Steve, Catherine, Neil, Gemma, Craig, Jana: Three weeks of so much fun, so much chatter, so much shared experiences, both pain and joy. Never ever will forget that. Thanks to everyone for the exceptionally good time and travels together.


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