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News August 2007   (Kuala Belait [Borneo] / Brunei, August 11, 2007)

 
Website statistics: In July we were able to welcome on our website 34'295 visitors who did 785'379 hits.
                                           (June = 39'374 visitors 835'511 hits)
                                The visitors are coming from about 100 to 118 different countries!
                                Record days since 12/17/1998 - the birthday of our website: 2/19/2007, 2'518 visitors and 293'778 hits
 
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Eight months of Indonesia passed, we are back in the "other" part of Borneo – partly in Kuala Belait in the South of
Brunei, partly in Miri in the North of Sarawak. In the first place, we are able to do house-sitting for three weeks in
the home of our friends apart from feeding a rabbit and a cat, and in the second, we have to take care of the gear
box of our LandCruiser. Its "singing" is getting steadily louder and is becoming conspicuous; it looks very much that
we have to replace some bearings. And because there are still many LandCruisers like ours circulating in East-
Malaysia, repairs shouldn't be a big problem, mainly because we return to the same workshop which overhauled the
engine and the body a year ago to our full satisfaction.
 
But leaving Indonesia didn't work out as planned, as the unexpected and extremely heavy downpours caused a
completely different situation. Although it was possible to reach the Western border of Central Kalimantan on more
or less paved roads, once the gravel and clay tracks started, we had to give up. Hence we were forced to ship for
25 hours on our 14th Indonesian ferry from Sampit to Surabaya on Java and two days later on the 15th from
Semarang to Pontianak during a further 31 hours journey. Though Indonesia is a relatively cheap country, the fares
for car transports within the archipelago aren't. Thus, visiting "only" 10 different islands out of the approximate
17'000 did cost about US$ 2'000 during our eight month's stay.
 
On August 2nd, 2007, the last day of our visa that we didn't extend anymore, we left the "Hello Mister!-country"
after 237 days and 7'909 driven miles (+ 691 miles/20 days in Timor-Leste) without any problems through the land
border on the island of Borneo – the same place where we started promisingly on November 18th, 2006. It was a
beautiful and interesting, even if sometimes also tough time, as the missing privacy – like already experienced
1994/95 in India – was sometimes difficult to accept. But also the road traffic, similar also to India, is pretty
challenging and we are proud to have completed the roundtrip without any accident; luckily we didn't fall sick either.
 

Sarawak/East-Malaysia (Borneo): Camping site in a palmoil plantation between Sri Aman and Sarikei      

                             
What's up now, after our dream to visit the Philippines vanished due to the unbelievable bureaucracy there? As
already mentioned before, the region has more interesting and less complicated destinations. Thus, we plan to ship in
October – once the typhoon and rainy season is supposed to be over – to Kaohsiung in Taiwan, wondering how the
"Islanders of China" will welcome us! At least they don't have the compulsory and extremely expensive
(vehicle)-requirement to be escorted always by an omnipresent guide like in "Olympia-China" on the mainland.
 

New Reports/Pictures

SOUTHEAST ASIA:                                      mouse over picture shows comments
                     click a picture to see details

 

 
Timor-Leste (Mainland)
(May 2007)
 
Com/Timor-Leste: Traditional Fataluku house
Oecussi/Timor-Leste
(May 2007)

Oecussi/Timor-Leste: Landscape East of Oecussi-'Town'

 
Sarawak/East-Malaysia
(Island of Borneo), Part 2
(Nov. 2006)
 
Kuching/Sarawak/East-Malaysia (Borneo): Proboscis monkey in Bako National Park
Sabah/East-Malaysia
(Island of Borneo)
(Oct. 2006)

Mount Kinabalu/Sabah/East-Malaysia (Borneo): Early Morning View

Brunei
(Sept. 2006)
 
Brunei (Borneo): ’The 'Ali Saifuddien'-Mosque at sunset in Bandar Seri Begawan
Sarawak/East-Malaysia
(Island of Borneo), Part 1
(June - Aug. 2006)

Miri/Sarawak/East-Malaysia (Borneo): Traditional stilt houses reflecting in the water of the Miri River

Myanmar
(May 2006)
 
Myanmar: Waiting for customers in Kawthoung
Thailand
Temples, Pagodas, Shrines 

Thailand
People, Beaches, Nature

(Nov. 1993 - Jan. 1994)
(Nov. - Dec. 2005)
(Febr. - April 2006)
Thailand: Ho Phra I-Suan Temple in Nakhon Si Thammarat

Laos

(February 2006)

Laos: The ’Patuxai’, the Laotian replica of the French ’Arc de Triomphe’ in Paris

Vietnam

(January 2006)
Vietnam: Two women cultivating a rice field

Cambodia

(December 2005)

Cambodia: The main temple of Angkor Wat with its five towers viewed from the hill of the ’Phnom Bakheng’ - Temple

Malaysia

(Oct. - Nov. 2005)
Malaysia: The four minarets of the ’Sultan Salahuddin’ State Mosque in Shah Alam are visible already from far

Singapore

(September 2005)

Singapore: High-rise buildings pop up everywhere - here behind the Parliament House

Macao

(September 2005)

Macao: The ’St. Paul’ ruin is an inspiring sight also at night

Hong Kong

(September 2005)

 

Hong Kong:From ’Hong Kong Peak’ we get an excellent view of the ’skyscraper jungle’
+ our Indonesia Trip, 6th part

Kalimantan – July 2007

+ our Indonesia Trip, within the 5th part

Tana Toraja (Toraja-Land) – June+July 2007

+ our Indonesia Trip, 5th part

Sulawesi – June+July 2007

+ our Indonesia Trip, 4th part

Sumba, West Timor – May+June 2007

+ our Indonesia Trip, 3rd part

Lombok, Sumabawa, Flores – April 2007

+ our Indonesia Trip, 2nd part

Bali – Jan.-March 2007

+ our Indonesia Trip, 1st part

Sumatra, Java – Dec. 2006

+ our Borneo Trip

Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, Kalimantan – Sept.-Nov. 2006

+ our LandCruiser on a "Rejuvenation Cure"

in Miri/Sarawak - the East Malaysian province on Borneo June-Aug. 2006

+ added from a earlier visit to the USA:

Las Vegas    (Millennium change)

+ added from our Arabian Peninsula round trip:

Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996)

+ Flashbacks of our Worldrecordtour:

Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 1984 - April 1997)

+ Follow-ups about Toyota-Experiences:
Encounters resp. "Ups + Downs" with
Toyota Companies since 1982
On July 7th, 2005, we were able to celebrate after a journey through 150 countries the car's
600'000th Kilometer - very prosaic in front of the post office in Cayenne/French Guiana.
Are you interested into the LandCruiser History, prepared by Toyota Motor Sales USA and taken over by
Toyota Motor United Kingdom? (after some loading-time please klick "IN LEGEND" and afterwards "HAIR TO MAGELLAN
- and you will see that we already belong to it too!)

 

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