Everywhere we read: "Fansipan-Travel" or "Fansipan-Adventure" or "Fansipan-...". The question came up: "Who or what is Fansipan?" 

Our time in Laos is clearly drawing to a close. We have travelled many kilometres here by ship, bus and motorbike and have seen many different places - in cities and far in the countryside. But no matter where it is, one thing is always and everywhere omnipresent and was also a good companion for us: Beer Lao.

How did these gigantic stone jugs get there thousands of years ago and who were the people who made them? These or similar questions are probably asked by anyone who visits the plain of jars in the north-east of Laos.

There are cities or places which, simply because of the sound of their name, evoke a special image or feeling, even if you have never been there before. Luang Prabang is one of them for us.

Over hundreds of kilometres, the Mekong forms the border between Thailand and Laos, crossing Laos at various points before flowing through Cambodia to Vietnam. This makes it possible to reach Luang Prabang, Laos' old royal city, from the Thai border on the Mekong by so-called slow boat in two days. A possibility that we are happy to take advantage of.

Thailand has an own, very special calendar. Regarding the year Thailand is in year 2562 according to the Buddhism Calendar, means always 543 years ahead of us. But when it comes to days and months Thailand follows the Gregorian or International Calendar. So formally being more than 500 years older we celebrated in Chiang Mai one of the most beautiful New Year Evenings we have experienced so far.

Pagodas in a desert like landscape as far as one can see: small ones and big ones of very different shapes. That is Bagan. We reach the old town and former King’s residence right at sunset which pours its red light all over the pagodas.

Going by bicycle through Myanmar means to be much slower than the common tour buses. It also means to to go on small dirt roads seeing much of the rural Myanmar while a lot of sweat runs down the back mixed with dust and dirt forming a sticky compound on our skin.

Mingalaba that is the traditonal welcome in Myanmar and means "blessings to you".

The high number of temples, pagodas and stupas we can see already from the arriving plane gives us an idea what we have to expect in this country where Buddhism omnipresent.

Many people call the west coast of the USA a dream. After we traveled  from San Francisco to Vancouver we can understand this very well. The range the landscape offers goes from rough cliffs to beaches many, many kilometres long ending in a far distant horizon, ideal for enjoyable evening or morning walks.

After visiting the Yellowstone National Park we drove further and further westwards. For a long time our route was the same as the historic Oregon Trail. Between the years 1843 and 18700  about 300,000 settlers made their way into the west on his trail. How they managed this huge distance with their treks composed out of up to 300 wagons is hardly to imagine: no roads, heat, deserts, ....

It does not astonish us that the astronauts of Apollo 11 tested their material in this area before having their first mission to the moon. All of a sudden appear huge black lava fields in the yellow hilly grasslands of Idoha. They look so strange in this surrounding and seem to be completely inhospitable. But only after we entered we realize how bizarre, but still beautiful this landscape really is.

More than once we were completely stunned in the oldest national park of the world, the Yellowstone National Park.

On an area of 9000 square kilometers it offers and combines extreme landscapes, impressive wildlife and incredible natural spectacles. So we did not only spend one or two days here like most of the visitors, but extended  our stay first for one day, than another day, and another day and.... to enjoy all these wonders with enough time. 

"We are different", emphazised Suzanne several times while we stayed at her place. Suzanne had picked us already up in June in Montreal but actually she lives a two and a half hours drive further north from the city (for us a four hour drive) in the countryside. As far as we can judge it with our very limited experience in Canada, Suzanne is right.

The four provinces Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and New Foundland are called  Atlantic Canada here. For us this was a region we did not have in mind, when we thought of Canada. But as we started our trip across the country in Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, we traveled via Cape Breton and New Brunswick to the peninsula of Gaspésie in Québec. The landscape reminded us very much about Scotland, but with much more forest.

We leave New York by train to Montreal. This is good way to travel, comfortable and relaxing. Eleven hours takes the train ride and in deed this is not a hign speed train, but it allows us to enjoy the beautiful landscape along the Hudson River. Definitely better than any TV-show. At the Canadian border it takes some time as everybody has to be checked and than we cross the mighty St.-Laurence river and reach Montreal.

There is hardly any other city in the world which has so much symbolic meaning as New York. Yesterday and today for millions of immigrants the hope for a better world or at least for a better life. New York and immediatly pictures of the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building or the Brooklyn Bridge appear in front of our inner eye.

Originally New York was not on our travel plan, but now we have spent six days in this crazy town and were fascinated like many others before.

A lot is written about Buenos Aires and there is no need to add more descriptions about its history or sights, which are many without question. Seven days we have spent in Buenos Aires and enjoyed the diversity of this city a lot. We could have spend several weeks more  without repeating one activity. Buenos Aires is also the last stop of our journey to South America. But before we head on to North America ,here are some pictures and impressions.

There are impressions which cannot be described by words because we are not really able to perceive them fully with our senses. The waterfalls of Iguazú at the border between Argentina and Brasil are definitely like this.

No, it is not the Nandu, this huge bird, because it runs up to 70 km/h. Also the Guanakos, of which we saw so many during our trip, are much faster, they can escape with a speed of 60 km/h. It is our van, the Bluebaer, tricking us another time. But let's tell the story step by step....

Vineyards as far as you can see and sometimes they are right in front of the Andes. In the region of Mendoza grow most of the Argentinan grapes and they are processed in more than 700 winerys. In average 320 sunny days a year lead to good wines but this also means that irrigation is always necessary otherwise  nothing would grow here. Water canals have been built by the Indians already, wine is made since 400 years.

Since more than a week we are again in Chile. We crossed the border at Chico Chile located at Lago Buenos Aires or Lago General Carrera. The lake is the second largest in South America and split between Argentina and Chile. The 100km rough road after the border were surly the most beautiful we have driven here so far. The narrow road led directly along the lake shore sometimes very deep downwards at on side and steep upwards at the other.

Between El Chaltén and the city of Perito Moreno, a little bit sidewards from Ruta 40 is a deep canyon with a river which has water all the year. That thousands of years ago in this area humans had lived as hunters and gatherers is proofed by wonderful rock painings on walls and in caves.

"Presumably only 500m more. Why are the last meters always the the most difficult? We started very early to see the mountains in good light and are on our way for more than four hours. Now it is really steep again, I'm sweating like hell, breathing is difficult... one step, another step..."

Than I reach the ridge, cold wind blows into my face and a panoramic view of breathtaking beauty. I see the end of a valley, on its bottem a deep blue lake surrounded by mountains of different colours and shapes touching the blue sky, fields of snow and ice flowing into the lake. The sun brightens the picture. I take a deep breath and tears fill my eyes, because my little human heart cannot cope with that much of beauty and perfectness. How could I ever doubt that this might not be worth the pain.

We are on board of the expedition  cruise "Stella Australis" and after a welcome drink the engine starts and the lights of Ushuaia vanish behind us.
In comparison to a real cruising ship the Stella Australis is small with a maximum capacity of 210 passengers. But it is built for the difficult waters of this area. Very soon we feel very comfortable what is also due to the nice cabin, the two bars and the restaurant on board.

Three days ago we reached Ushuaia the most southern city in the world.
The days before we spent in and around Punta Arenas in Chile where the landscape differed a lot from the Patagonian desert: much more green, trees, hills and meadows. Several times we camped directly at the Magellan Strait and were thankful for the heating system in our bus. The Bluebaer is now safely parked in Punta Arenas and a 12- hour ride in a public bus brought us to Ushuaia.
 

After two full days of driving we arrived at the Peninsula Valdés. Two days, hour per hour on completely straight roads first in the pampa of central Argentina and later through the Patagonian desert. Sometimes we get the feeling of a never ending landscape, after every hill our "Bluebaer" climbs the same picture, new hills and plains up to the horizon. The more south we get the drier it gets and also the wind gets stronger and stronger.

Five days we have spent in Montevideo. We perceived it as a city with a very relaxed atmosphere (which other city has 22km promanade and 33 beaches?). Even on a sunday afternoon when very likely 90% of the 1.5 million inhabitants are at the rambla (promenade) by car, on skates, bicycles or just on foot, you do not hear horns or angry words. Remarkable are the old beautyful buildings, unfortunately many of them are in bad shape.

After several months of preparation everything including the bicycles are packed and luckily the farewell is not very dramatic. Our flight goes from Hanover via Vienna and Sao Paulo to Montevideo. Everything works well without any problems at all. Only the transport of the bicycles causes some confusion at Hanover airport. 

Although we know since ages that the shipping of our VW-bus has to be done this month it hit us all of a sudden. Literally until the very last minute Holger tinkered around with the bus to get everything ready ("tinkered" says Dorit, but Holger calls it "very last optimizations").

Definitely we felt a little friable when we left our compound in the direction of Hamburg's harbor.