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News – Dec. 2009/Jan. 2010 (Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia, January 28, 2010)
- Website statistics: In December we were able to welcome on our website 38'469 visitors who did 1'308'768 hits.
- (November = 40'458 visitors – 1'429'382 Hits / October = 46'467 visitors – 1'596'484 Hits)
- The visitors are coming from about 164 different countries!
- Record day since 12/17/1998 = the birthday of our website: on 11/5/2007 = 13'407 visitors and 787'456 hits
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- After 2½ months in one of the last "real" kingdoms of the world (rec. in News November 2009) – in Tonga in the Pacific – we
- are back in Asia for the 8th time and that without our vehicle (yet) in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. When we left the
- "Friendly Islands" on January 21st, 2010, with the budget airline 'Pacific Blue' in direction Sydney in Australia, our LandCruiser
- was loaded two days later in Nuku'alofa onto the vessel 'South Islander II' of the 'Greater Bali Hai' shipping line. At first it will be
- shipped in its 18th container via New Caledonia to Taiwan. However, before it reaches there the port of Kaohsiung, we have to
- know definitely whether Papua New Guinea is letting our car into the country – our second attempt didn't yield fruits up to now
- in every particular issue. If the remaining points are not solved until February 5th, 2010, we will have to redirect the container to
- another port of destination.
- A few hours later we left Sydney with the low cost carrier 'Virgin Blue' for Gold Coast, from where we flew with AirAsia, the
- best known and biggest low fare airline in Asia, to Malaysia. And it was high time for Liliana's leg! On December 14th, 2009,
- she was bitten in Tonga by a dog so badly that we had to rush immediately to the emergency room of the Vaiola hospital in
- Nuku'alofa. With it, the problems grew even more. The Tongan woman doctor sutured the bite negligently and improperly after
- 24 hours (!), without cleaning and disinfecting it correctly beforehand. This led to the fact that nine days later – when the stitches
- had to be removed – the leg had become so much infected and inflamed that we intended to fly out to New Zealand. But shortly
- before, on December 24th, 2009, we found with the help of expatriates a French-New Caledonian doctor who worked as a
- replacement in a small private Mission Clinic. Coincidentally he was even a dermatological surgeon. First of all he had to operate
- on the leg and remove at the same time the remaining dirt and some stitchings left behind. Had this scandalous negligence of a
- hospital happened in another country, e.g. the USA, suing them for compensation wouldn't have posed any difficulty. Somehow
- it looks that Liliana is accident-prone at Christmas time. Thus she was hit four years ago on December 25 th, 2005, at the
- Mekong ferry in Cambodia by a car driver what caused a fracture of the leg, which showed to be really annoying and obstructive
- during our journey's continuation through Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.
- Even if we had unbelievable luck in finding this doctor – Liliana could have lost her leg without further ado, because the
- inflammation had reached an advanced stage – the streak of bad luck didn't want to end: Not only that it's nearly impossible to
- find adequate medicine, but the police stopped Emil on December 28 th, 2009, after 55 days in the country (!) highhandedly
- and wanted to confiscate the car. The reason: Only the King and the Diplomats are allowed to drive around with a "foreign
- license plate", although the Ministry of Tourism gave us "green light" for an entrance in Tonga. Sharp tongues deemed that the
- officer was looking for some beer money for New Year's Eve, but Emil didn't get along (unfortunately?). It's not beside the point,
- as this country comes in on position 100 in the 'Transparency International Index 2009', which addresses the worldwide
- corruption. Considering that motoring in Tonga nearly has "no limits", e.g. driving without wearing seatbelts - motorbikers without
- helmets - kids and babies on the front seats, even on the knees of the driver - phoning while driving - driving without insurance,
- this assumption isn't far out. By the way: Most of the vehicles are falling apart due the heavy rust (the haze of the sea is all over the
- island); if there was a technical vehicle inspection in Tonga like in Western countries, the island would be free of traffic. But
- obviously driving with a foreign license plate is an offense, though we had a temporary "permit" to do so.
- All's well that ends well? Not really: Indeed, the driving ban was lifted after 11 days – it's as simple as that: By phone, without
- any paper – probably it was just a "mistake". Apparently the Minister of Tourism agreed with the Minister of Police that we
- create actually no risk in the whole traffic. However Liliana's wound worsened suddenly again after an initial improvement. The
- tropical climate isn't very beneficial for an efficient healing. Therefore, we were overjoyed to board the plane to arrive soon in a
- country with a better medical care: Malaysia.
For the moment, we left the Pacific. Retrospectively, Tahiti with Moorea was so far the climax, followed by both of the Samoa's: - Samoa and American Samoa – we wouldn't visit again Tonga. But we have to stress that it wasn't just the two unlovely incidents
- – the dog bite with the completely failing hospital and the arbitrary driving ban – which left a bad impression, it is also the mentality
- of the Tongans, who virtually show only shallowness and indifference, and who don't take care of anything. Probably its roots are
- to find in the constant cash flow from fellow citizen working in New Zealand, Australia and the USA, which causes that the ones
- who stay home show only an interest in "Money-Transfer-Offices". A recent example: Although the entire population on the small
- island of Tongatapu might have known that Liliana was bitten seriously by a dog and that she couldn't and wasn't allowed to leave
- anymore the bed during a month (everybody knows everybody and is in the know about everyone, even foreigners), it could have
- been expected from the hotel manager that she showed up once in our bungalow over Christmas and New Year. Only the few
- expatriates wanted and tried to help us overcoming this difficult situation.
- We are expecting now a reply from Papua New Guinea, whether our LandCruiser is allowed to enter the country. We are not
- really looking forward to another ban on driving. If yes, the container might arrive beginning of March in Medan on Sumatra in
- Indonesia, from where we intend to drive for the second time across the island archipelago to cross the land border from
- Indonesian (Western-) Papua, the former Irian Jaya, into Papua New Guinea (from Jayapura to Vanimo). If no, we face a new
- problem, which we will solve once more – traveling means not always holidays.
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Tongatapu Island |  |
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Tahiti
1st part Picture
Gallery (Aug.-Sept. 2009) Tahiti 2nd part Picture Gallery (Oct. 2009) Moorea Picture Report (Sept. 2009) |
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Rarotonga Island |  |
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Temples, Pagodas, Shrines | |
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| The visit of 13 Pacific Islands with and 1 without our LandCruiser | Pacific February 2008 - |
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| The visit of 13 Caribbean Islands with our LandCruiser | Caribbean June 2003-Dec. 2004 |
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| + added from the United Arab Emirates: | Fairytale Wedding in Dubai (March 1999) |
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| + added from a earlier visit to the USA: | Las Vegas (Millennium change) |
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| + added from our Arabian Peninsula round trip: | Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996) |
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| + Flashbacks of our Worldrecordtour: | Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 1984 - April 1997) |
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