News – September 2007 (Miri/Sarawak / Malaysia [Borneo], 20. September 2007)
- Website statistics: In August we were able to welcome on our website 33'447 visitors who did 906'336 hits.
- (July = 34'295 visitors – 785'379 hits)
- The visitors are coming from about 100 to 118 different countries!
- Record day since 12/17/1998 - the birthday of our website: 2/19/2007 = 2'518 visitors and 293'778 hits
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- Unfortunately, our task lies once more in repairing. The age is showing more and more its face, although we overhauled
- one year ago here in Miri in Northern Sarawak – one of the two East Malaysian provinces on the island of Borneo – the
- engine and the whole body. Today, it’s the gear box and clutch, actually not much later since the rear differential
- collapsed in Indonesia. But we want to continue with the same vehicle to extend also our Guinness World Record. A
- few days ago we received the pleasing news that the 383’609 driven miles during the past 23 years in 156 different
- countries have been checked and accepted. Despite of this, repairing here is still cheaper than to buy another car, even if
- it’s a bit riskier and more stressful.
Our break in doing “house-sitting” at a friend’s place in Kuala Belait in Brunei was relaxing. It was nice to live temporarily - in a house enjoying all the tempting amenities, moreover if the weather is not so pleasant. Besides having a roof over the
- head, WiFi, TV and a hot shower, we liked also the bed in an air-conditioned and mosquito-free room. If it wouldn’t be
- possible to recharge our own batteries in this or a similar way from time to time, the “Indonesian-style” traveling could
- become quite tiring in the long term. It’s simply not possible to run “his own
engines” endlessly under full steam.
But some thrills and excitements are needed: Said this, Liliana’s birthday will be enriched by the arrival of a film crew from - Singapore, which wants to shoot a short movie about our lifestyle around our car. Coming October, the latest 4.7-liter
- LandCruiser will be launched in Bahrain, and what a Toyota is able to do, should be emphasized with some of our travel
- stories. Such a “shooting” isn’t a big money affair, but surely a lot of
fun.
- Regarding continuation: On September 28th, our LandCruiser will be stuffed for the 10th time into a container. Three
- days later, Evergreen Line takes it from Bintulu – the same harbor where we arrived last year on May 29th, from
- Penang – to Kaohsiung in Taiwan, while we are flying with AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur, then by train to Singapore and
- afterwards by the airline JetstarAsia to Taipei. A high-speed railway will bring us to the port city of Kaohsiung. If
- everything runs according to our plans and bookings, we should have our “home” back on October 5th, or at the
- latest 8th. Until December 1st, we are allowed to visit the island of Taiwan, called also Republic of China, which will
- become our 157th country. Afterwards, we shall find ourselves once more in Hong Kong, this time with our Land-
- Cruiser – actually an unusual place to visit with an own vehicle. But probably we are succeeding somehow to drive
- overland into China; in any case that’s what we shall try. Hong Kong was already since the first opening of the Peoples
- Republic of China the best place to complete the still complex Chinese entry procedures. If the border crossing doesn’t
- work, the Pacific is calling, where Lae on Papua New Guinea will be the first location.
- Therefore, please check from time to time the progress of our Taiwan trip on our pictured site!
New Reports/Pictures
- SOUTHEAST ASIA: mouse over picture shows comments
- click a picture to see details
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 6th part | Kalimantan – July 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, within the 5th part | Tana Toraja (Toraja-Land) – June+July 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 5th part | Sulawesi – June+July 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 4th part | Sumba, West Timor – May+June 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 3rd part | Lombok, Sumabawa, Flores – April 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 2nd part | Bali – Jan.-March 2007 |
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| + our Indonesia Trip, 1st part | Sumatra, Java – Dec. 2006 |
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| + our Borneo Trip | Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, Kalimantan – Sept.-Nov. 2006 |
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| + our LandCruiser on a "Rejuvenation Cure" | in Miri/Sarawak - the East Malaysian province on Borneo June-Aug. 2006 |
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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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