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Hot News - April 2006   (Ranong/Thailand, April 9th, 2006)

 
Website statistics: In March we were able to welcome on our website 39'826 (= record) visitors
                                from more than 104 different countries* who did 671'616 (= record) hits.
                                (February = 31'246 visitors - 115 countries - 516'894 hits)
                      (* = the country counter stopped working March 23rd)
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As we arrived here in Ranong/Southern Thailand in March, we never expected to be still here today. But it just
got to happen: Firstly, Ranong has a mineral well, and because the healing of Liliana's broken leg doesn't show
the desired progress, she is bathing her limb daily - even free of charge. Secondly, our residence permit to stay
in Thailand was expiring, and because just opposite of Ranong lies the Burmese Kawthoung, the easiest way to
get a renewal is by boarding a small boat, "hopping" over, buying there at the same time a cheap bottle of
Myanmar Rum - 700 ml (nearly 24 fl.oz.) for US$ 0.80 - and on return, the Thai immigration extends the stay
for another month. Many European pensioners do this the whole year round, because - just to mention as a
third point - the hotels and guesthouses are (still) pretty cheap in Ranong: An air-conditioned room with TV,
shower with hot water and daily new bedding costs US$ 9.25. Thus we were able to finish our reports from
Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos and put them online.

 

Thailand: Our guesthouse bungalow in Ranong

 

 

 

 

 

But there is a fourth reason: The difficult procedures for the car permit regarding our future destinations. The
visit of Myanmar is now definitively postponed to the end of the year - if it ever should get approved.
However, there is a dawn at the horizon regarding an entry in the Philippines. Not only that we get a full
support from the friendly Philippine Embassy in Bangkok, but in the meantime, the Department of Tourism in
Manila is also getting more and more interested. As soon as we get a concrete approval - we hope in about a
week's time - we shall leave Ranong to drive the nearly 750 miles to the Malaysian port of Port Klang near
Kuala Lumpur, from where we want to ship our car, unfortunately pretty costly (about US$ 1'000), to Kuching,
situated on the island of Borneo. This port is the capital of the East Malaysian State of Sarawak and allows us
not only to visit soon also our "new" 154th country - the Sultanate of Brunei -, but also ferrying afterwards from
the close-by Northeasterly State of Sabah to Zamboanga on the Philippine island of Mindanao.
 

New Reports/Pictures

SOUTHEASTASIA:                                      mouse over picture shows comments

 

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’
+ 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. 84 - April 97)

+ 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?
(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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