News – December 2007 (Hong Kong, December 18, 2007)
- Website statistics: In November we were able to welcome on our website 59'849 visitors who did 2'496'417 hits.
- Both figures were a new record. (October = 44'102 visitors – 1'485'393 hits)
- The visitors are coming from about 100 to 118 different countries!
- Record day since 12/17/1998 - the birthday of our website: 11/5/2007 = 13'407 visitors and 787'456 hits
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- As planned, on November 27th, we packed our LandCruiser into its 11th container, bound for the journey to
- Hong Kong, where it arrived on December 3rd, a little bit delayed. The following day was spent searching for the
- compulsary third-party insurance, because none of the companies wanted to cover our car – either allowing just an one-
- year policy or due to its advanced age (already over 25 years).
- But endurance brings success. Armed with the insurance cover note, bill of lading, registration and passport copies, we
- made our way to the licensing department, and surprisingly – nobody dared to hope – after 20 minutes of waiting, we
- received the Hong Kong registration sticker, even free of charge, and headed straight to the huge port. Unstuffing, signing
- and taking-off through the gate was all. No customs check was made at all. Then, we jumped into the enormous traffic of
- the 7-million mega-city.
- But soon after, the problems started to unveil: Where is it possible to stop for a moment to study the map? Everywhere,
- even the smallest corner, was blocked off, fenced-in or marked with "no stopping" – interestingly very much respected!
- Now and then, there are some parking lots, but mostly only in the form of underground parking, where we cannot enter
- due to our height, or they are going to cost a fortune (up to US$13 an hour). Soon we realize that owning a vehicle here
- means luxury and prestige – an impression that is confirmed later. That said, it is possible to observe now and then even
- Ferrari's, Lamborghini's und Maserati's (Hong Kong is just the "right place" for this kind of car, because queuing up
- repeatedly means normal moving!); and also gasoline costs US$7.70 a gallon, or a monthly parking space has a price
- tag of US$650.-.
- But we are forced now to wait here for spare parts to arrive from Japan, and we haven't been able to leave our car
- behind in Taiwan (it just needed to be reexported there). And shipping it to already our next destination – Papua New
- Guinea – isn't possible either, because the freighter is delayed considerably and most of the flights around Christmas/
- New Year are completely overbooked.
- However, for non-motorized people, the sometimes called "Pearl of the East" is a paradise, as we already experienced
- during our Hong Kong's first visit in September 2005: A very good network of subways, bus connections and even some
- railways and tramways as well as various passenger ferries guarantee a well functioning public transport. If the age of 65
- is passed, even foreigners can enjoy 50% discount, and sometimes that means a ride for just 25 US-Cents!
- But Hong Kong isn't anymore Taiwan. The city's unbelievable hustle and bustle and where money is the sole focal point,
- together with the incredible, sometimes recklessly pushing crowd, can get stressful once in a while, especially if it doesn't
- stop day and night. Everywhere – is it on the subway, in the bus, at the taxi stand, ferry terminal, at the cashier in the
- supermarket, even for dinner at the "Sushi Restaurant" – people are impatiently lining up. Currently, just short before
- Christmas, entering big department stores involves waiting on the sidewalk before getting any access to the elevators or
- stairways. Also air quality doesn't match anymore the one of Taiwan, except probably Taipei's. We are now two weeks
- in Hong Kong, but within this period, we were able once only to get a glimpse of the "highest hill" Tai Mo Shan (3140 ft),
- located in the 'New Territories'. It is always hidden in haze or smog. Once, we drove up to the mountain, but the view
- was equal to zero. May be that during the recent 'Climate Change Conference' in Bali, the leaders shouldn't have talked
- only about cutting the greenhouse gas emissions, but probably also about reducing the population – less people on the
- planet means less CO2, isn't it? What we experienced during the past 23 years confirms that birth control is simply
- unavoidable.
- As we feared, a "quick" visit of China with our car, transitting to Macau, isn't in sight. Inflexibility are dominating the
- unyielding permit's procedures, apart from greediness for money. Even citizens living in Hong Kong have to undergo a
- lengthy process to get an authorization to drive over the border, and obviously are finally not yet allowed to enter Macau
- with the vehicle. China still is (and will be for a long time) differing a lot from Europe, although it likes to present itself and
- be regarded as progressiv. Luckily – looking back – Taiwan proved to be much more flexible, otherwise we possibly
- would have missed the "real" China.
- Due to the above mentioned delay of the freighter to Papua New Guinea, our Toyota will leave Hong Kong only on
- January 16th, heading for Lae in Papua New Guinea's Morobe Province. It will become the first destination in the Pacific
- of our world trip. While the car is sailing through the Philippine Sea – we don't even dare to think that the French
- CMA-CGM line let join us as passengers – our first step will be Singapore for one more time. The Indonesian island of
- Batam will be reached from Singapore with a boat, and from there we hope to 'cruise' with a Pelni vessel to Jayapura,
- lying in Indonesian Papua. It sounds like to be a little bit of a "continuation" of our preceding Indonesia-Trips with the
- vehicle. Doing this means, we would cross the third and last overland border of Indonesia: From Jayapura to Vanimo in
- Papua New Guinea (the other two are located in Kalimantan and Timor). To meet our 'beloved' friend, the LandCruiser,
- on its arrival in Lae, we intend to sail with Lutheran Shipping along PNG's North coast.
New Reports/Pictures
- SOUTHEAST ASIA: mouse over picture shows comments
- click a picture to see details
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| + our Taiwan Trip, 1st part | Kaohsiung-Kenting-Taitung – Oct. 2007 |
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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 Engine/Body: June-Aug. 2006/Transmission: Sept. 2007 |
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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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